A narrow 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday evening is a mere blip in West Ham’s recent return to form, according to Nayef Aguerd.
The Hammers fell to just their second loss in eleven matches in all competitions and were unable to record a third straight win after Paquetá put the Irons ahead at London Stadium.
In the end, goals from Cody Gakpo and Joël Matip saw Liverpool come from behind to take the points back to Merseyside.
But Aguerd, who impressed at the heart of the defence with a sequence of blocks across his 90 minutes of action, believes the Hammers can take plenty of confidence despite the final result.
“I think we deserved more,” the 27-year-old explained after his side pushed for an equaliser relentlessly and saw referee Chris Kavanagh wave away a late penalty appeal, where the ball looked to have hit Thiago’s arm.
“We gave everything on the pitch but as we know there are small margins in football. Still, we have other games, and we know our goal in the Premier League, so we want to take maximum points from them.
“We did our best and we move on to the next game against Crystal Palace. Every game is like a final. We showed the character to win against Fulham and Bournemouth. We go to Crystal Palace with confidence, and we want to take the three points.”
And that will be the aim for Aguerd and company, who more than held their own against Liverpool – a side whose quality has seen them win all four domestic trophies as well as the UEFA Champions League title during Jürgen Klopp’s tenure at Anfield.
Still, there are lessons to learn from the defeat. The No27 was particularly frustrated by the two goals the Hammers conceded.
First, Gakpo was allowed too much space to find the net in the first half, while Matip was left to have a free run at Andrew Robertson’s corner and head home what would ultimately be the winner in east London.
“We work a lot on set pieces,” Aguerd explained. “So we are very disappointed [about Liverpool’s second goal]. We were very angry on the pitch because we work on [defending corners] a lot.
“I think we had a few chances. [Liverpool] keep the ball very well so we worked hard to [close the inside lanes] and we had chances [to score].”
But an equaliser would not come for the Hammers, although there were plenty of postives as West Ham head into the business end of the season, with summer signings such as Aguerd finding their feet in recent weeks.
One such player to have really found his mojo has been Paquetá. Goals have come against KAA Gent, AFC Bournemouth and now Liverpool. The latter was best of the bunch too.
From wide left, the No11 carried the ball inside, combined with Michail Antonio, and then found the back of the net with a stunning swish of his right foot.
Aguerd was delighted for his teammate to show his quality once more, even if successive home wins over Liverpool did not arrive for the east Londoners.
He added: “I am very happy for Lucas. Like me, it is his first year in the Premier League, and it is a tough competition. It takes time to adapt to this league due to the intensity. The goal is to stay in the Premier League and next year he will do more and more.”
