Declan Rice knows West Ham United need to turn their fortunes around swiftly after closing 2022 with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Brentford on Friday night.
The Hammers were caught by a couple of first half sucker punches by the Bees at London Stadium, as goals from Ivan Toney and Josh Dasilva meant they returned to the dressing rooms two goals behind despite putting in a bright performance.
Rice himself went within a whisker of opening the goalscoring with a fifth-minute effort which hit the far post with goalkeeper David Raya beaten, but West Ham just could not find the route to goal which would have given themselves a shot at a positive result.
As it is, the Hammers head into the New Year having tasted defeat in their first two games back following the break for the FIFA World Cup, and Rice is determined for the talking to stop and the action to be shown on the pitch right away.
I think we played as well as we have in ages in the first half.
We had a change of formation, Saïd [Benrahma] dropping in, linking the play, me and Lucas [Paquetá] together playing some nice passes, and if my shot if goes in, or if Daws’ (Craig Dawson) header goes in, we are talking about a different game.
And tonight, ultimately both goals were decided from throw-ins and at this level, we know that is sloppy, especially with where we are in the table at the moment.
The goals were sloppy and then you're always chasing the game.
It’s frustrating because I know the quality we have got; I know the players we have got.
I see it day in and day out in training. The reality of it at the minute is that we are not doing well enough, we are letting ourselves and the manager down, and we are also letting the fans down.
There's no beating around the bush, we signed the players in the summer and it's up to us to be out there, pushing, driving, giving everything for the badge and giving everything for the fans.
I'm out there trying as hard to do that, trying to keep the lads going. All the lads in there are trying to keep each other going too.
We're down there and that's the reality but we don't want to think like that because we want to have a positive mentality. We still think we can play and get a result in this league ao there's not going to be any negativity from me.
I don't like where we are, I don't like the way we've played recently - it's unlike us to lose five Premier League games [in a row] but football is a learning experience and it's about how we move on.
It is just the fine margins that are letting us down.
There was not a lack of effort tonight, everyone ran themselves into the ground, and gave everything. I'ver come off probably feeling as tired as I have all season - we are really pushing to get a result and trying to get that wint. Everyone needs to stick with us, and it will turn.
Football is decided by split-second decisions, things happen so quickly, and you have to react really quickly.
I think we are starting games better. Even though we lost to Leicester before the World Cup, we played well in that game. We dominated the game and lost 2-0. And the same happened tonight, we dominated the game and lost 2-0.
We went to a back five tonight to go a bit more solid but there were two sloppy goals like I said, which is really unlike us. The Gaffer has built us on that solidity and I think there was a reaction tonight from Arsenal, but just did not get the three points that we really needed.
I read a lot of stuff and fans are always going to voice their opinions.
[The fans] have seen the signings we made in the summer and have seen us underachieve. They want to see West Ham back where we should be. So look, I fully agree with them. After the last two seasons, this season was exciting to go into, but we are letting ourselves down at the moment. I understand, but from me and the lads, but you will never see us mentally check out, never see us not giving 100 per cent.
A couple of wins changes it - it's not far away but it's not going exactly the way we want it at the minute. Stick with us, stay positive.
As captain, I will keep trying to push everyone and give everything for this team.
We are going to do everything to change it around. And now, we have a big one against Leeds. That’s the beauty of football, you have the next game to react and do something positive, and we will try to do that.
