Andre Ayew has hailed the West Ham United fans for their support and is sad he and his teammates couldn’t send them home happy, after a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.
The Hammers were eliminated from the Carabao Cup quarter-finals by a Danny Welbeck finish just moments before half-time, putting the Gunners through at West Ham’s expense.
Around 7,000 West Ham supporters packed into the Emirates Stadium for the contest and constantly cheered on their team, and Ayew has praised them for their backing of the side.
The forward Is disappointed he and the rest of the team couldn’t get through and thank the supporters with a place in the semi-finals.
“We’re quite disappointed to be out of the cup because I think we could have gone a step further,” Ayew told whufc.com: “The fans were unbelievable. My friends, they sent me a message afterwards saying West Ham fans are on fire!
My friends, they sent me a message afterwards saying West Ham fans are on fire! I’m disappointed we couldn’t make them happy, like we did at Wembley.
Andre Ayew
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t make them happy, like we did at Wembley, but we want to thank them for coming and for their support. We’re going to keep running and playing and trying to give them better football to make them happy.”
The 28-year-old admits he is frustrated West Ham were unable to break down Arsenal and feels there are now opportunities for improvement ahead of the next contest, on Saturday.
He continued: “Arsenal had more possession and played the game, but we defended well and they didn’t really have any clear, clear chances. I think they got the one where they scored but in the second half there was no clear chance.
“We didn’t manage to play our game or come out with the ball on the ground from the back, but there are things that are positive but also negative things we need to work on to be better in the league.
“We’re going to use this game to become better and work and be better for Saturday because that’s what important at the moment.”
David Moyes made six changes to the starting XI for Tuesday’s match, with Doningos Quina making his first start for the senior side, and Ayew reckons such an experience will only benefit the Club going forward.
He added: “I think we have players who have the desire, players who want to run and play for the Club. We are getting better and better. We lose maybe 1-0 at the Emirates, with young lads also playing, it’s good for them, it’s good for the Club, for the future.
“Like I said, I’m disappointed because I’m a competitor and I always want to go further, but I think we can learn a lot from this and we can become a better squad and hopefully we can get good results before the end of the year.”