Lucienne Reichardt has called on West Ham United to rediscover their usual standards after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool.
A 48th minute strike by Courtney Sweetman-Kirk condemned the Irons to a third consecutive league defeat at Prenton Park, which saw the Reds go level on points with the Hammers.
Reichardt believes West Ham were unlucky not to come away with anything from Monday’s match but says the side did not make the most of their chances.
With West Ham without a win in 2019, the Dutch midfielder says the side need to return to basics in order to start claiming results.
Looking back at our December month, we did really well. We need to get our standards back. Sometimes our standards haven’t been good enough.
Lucienne Reichardt
“It was a disappointing result but it’s not a deserved result,” Reichardt told West Ham TV. “We had a lot of opportunities and a lot of corners. We had a lot of ball possession, but they scored so they won.
“We were unlucky, but the whole team needs to be better. Looking back at our December month, we did really well. We need to get our standards back. Sometimes our standards haven’t been good enough. We need to stick together.
“I think this game was different to the last couple of games, against Manchester City and Arsenal. They are really good teams, but today against Liverpool we had to win. We didn’t score, which is the problem at the moment. I think we need to go back to our standards of easy playing.”
The No18 could find positives in Monday’s performance, hailing how new signings Adriana Leon and Cho So-hyun performed after settling into the team.
The duo joined West Ham in January and Reichardt is delighted with how the two have been welcomed into the squad.
She continued: “I think both have settled really well. I hope they are okay with us in the team. Last week, we trained with them and they’ve settled in more.
“The last game, they had only been here one day, but now they’ve had a whole week with us. I think it’s still a short time but they are clearly good players.”
With the Irons heading into February without a victory in 2019, Reichardt recognises that this weekend’s match with Blackburn Rover Ladies is a huge opportunity to return to winning ways, and has called on the side to remain united.
She added: “I think we need to stick together. We shouldn’t point fingers. It’s important to stay together and feedback between us what’s going on. We need to get our heads up and head into the next game, which we know we need to win. We have to stick together and play as a team.”