Manager Slaven Bilic was in good form in his post-match press conference following West Ham United's 3-2 Carabao Cup fourth-round win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.
The Croatian praised his players for their work-rate, commitment and quality and challenged them to show the same qualities in Saturday's Premier League fixture at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Here is what he had to say...
We definitely put the hard work in at Wembley
I was asked before the match to comment on the statistics which Sky Sports showed after our defeat by Brighton on Friday, which said we had run and sprinted less than any other Premier League team this season.
Nobody can say we did not run and sprint on Wednesday.
And nothing effects the running of any football team, their closing down and their tempo, with or without the ball, as much as goals do.
We scored the first goal and, all of a sudden, we were in the rhythm and they were a little bit not in a rhythm, then the second goal came.
Of course, we could still have gone on to lose the game 3-2 or 4-2, but it was us who was in charge and, to be fair, the lads deserved it.
It was a great night for the Club.
We won the game, Spurs didn't lose it
In my opinion, whatever anyone says, we won the game, rather than Spurs lost it.
Mauricio Pochettino knows his Spurs team better than me and, if he thinks their level dropped in the second half, fair enough.
They don’t concede three goals very often – I don’t remember the last time when they did – and when he says they were a little bit ‘Job done’ and took it easy, it is very hard to come back in a game, and that’s what happened.
OK, maybe that happened a bit, but nothing can take one per cent from our guys. We showed it and we deserved it.
Maybe they gave us the opportunity to attack them five against four or four against three, but still it’s not easy to score three goals against Spurs away.
We put things right in the dressing room at half-time
I said after the game, both to the television and the radio reporters and then to the press, that our first half was not, for me, that bad.
The result was very, very bad, but I also saw a lot of good things from us. We were passing the ball from the back and we were coming through into good areas, but our crossing or passing in the final third of the pitch was very bad and our movement in their penalty area was not good enough.
So, at half-time, I told them that the result was very bad, to calm down and to do some things better when we had the ball, and Manuel Lanzini and Edi Fernandes to close down Moussa Sissoko and Dele Alli when they had the ball and I told one of the strikers he has to be on Eric Dier, who had a lot of time and space in the first half.
I also told them that, when we had the ball, we had to show more bravery and more quality with our crosses and all that, that we were very much in the game and the next goal would be the decisive one.
That’s exactly what we did brilliantly in the second half. We were closing them down much better and were bursting out with the ball through Fernandes and Lanzini.
We scored the goal and we gained energy and our crosses started to be world-class crosses and it was very hard for them to defend. From a few of them we scored goals and we deserved it.
Wednesday's win set the standard for Saturday
Wednesday night’s game should set the standard for us, in terms of closing teams down, in terms of compactness, in terms of team play, in terms of sacrificing everything for the team.
We will win some games and we will lose some games, but I am quite confident we are on a good way.
We improved a lot, the Brighton game aside, and we should use this game as a standard.
It gives us a lot of confidence going to Crystal Palace on Saturday and we need to use this game, to do the same in training, to do the same to prepare and to do the same on Saturday.
If we think suddenly everything is OK, then it would be better if we had lost on Wednesday, because we have to be focused and use this opportunity to continue to work hard and sacrifice for the team.
There were no long faces on Thursday morning
I made nine changes to the team on Wednesday night and the boys who came into the side have given me and my staff a positive headache when it comes to picking the team for Saturday.
I’ve always said it is about the squad and there is no space for individuals. Whoever plays on Saturday knows that. We will need all of them over the course of the season.
We wanted to go through to the quarter-finals. OK, one or two of them were rested, but only because we believe in the guys behind them and that they deserve to play – the likes of Sam Byram (pictured, above), Angelo Ogbonna, Declan Rice, Edimilson Fernandes and Andre Ayew – and they took their chance.
We have two days to prepare for Palace, which is not ideal, but the win gives us energy and freshness and nobody felt tired and there were no long faces at the training ground on Thursday morning.