Robert Snodgrass admitted West Ham United simply did not defend well enough as a team in the 2-1 Boxing Day Premier League defeat at Crystal Palace.
The Hammers went in front through the Scot's second-half goal, only to relinquish the lead to Cheikhou Kouyate's equaliser and lose out to Jordan Ayew's late winner.
With typical honesty, the No11 said the Irons had not performed well enough to win themselves at Selhurst Park, but called on his teammates keep fighting.
We’ve got to keep working hard, put our bodies on the line and fight through pain barriers
Robert Snodgrass
“We’ve got to keep working hard, put our bodies on the line and fight through pain barriers,” Snodgrass said. “We need to keep going. The fans were right there, by our side, cheering us on.
“Boxing Day games are special and they bring a great feeling. We’ve just got to keep going, dig deep and see it out. This is a busy period where there are three or four games in eight days.
“Today wasn’t good enough, the way we’ve defended as a team. We need to be ready for Saturday [at home to Leicester City] now. Football is one of those things where the games come thick and fast. For me, I love it at this time, when you can keep going. We want to get a victory in that Leicester game. I think we need to be ready.”
It was Snodgrass’ classy finish just prior to the hour mark that gave Manuel Pellegrini’s side the lead, but former Hammer Kouyate struck not long after to level the game.
The away side saw their hearts broken on 90 minutes when Ayew’s individual effort saw him dance through the back line and clip the ball past Roberto.
Snodgrass continued: “Obviously, we’re gutted. We went 1-0 up and, as a team, we’ve got to do better and we’ve got to defend better.
“I just felt like we kept dropping and kept getting deeper while we’re holding the lead. It’s disappointing, especially coming here and going in front. We had the same thing last season, where they got that late goal to get a draw.
“This time, because we’re so deep, we’re gutted because I thought our defence did really well in the first half. In the second half, as a team, we’re gutted we threw away the lead.
“We had a few chances in the first half as well, but it was quite a scrappy game. It was difficult conditions out there. It was hard and, as I say, it’s one of those situations where when you go in front against a good team like Palace, you need to see the game out and take three points.”
