David Moyes insists West Ham nonetheless have “half an opportunity” to succeed in the Europa League semi-finals regardless of an agonising 2-0 first-leg defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.
The Hammers defended heroically for 83 minutes of a one-sided encounter in opposition to the Bundesliga leaders in Germany.
However late objectives from substitutes Jonas Hoffman and Victor Boniface left West Ham with all of it to do in subsequent week’s second leg in opposition to a crew but to lose a match this season.
Moyes instructed TNT Sports activities: “Leverkusen have a very good report of scoring late. We had been conscious of that. We did an incredible job however we performed in opposition to a Champions League aspect and we’re not fairly at that degree.
“We’re nonetheless within the tie and we have now half an opportunity within the second leg.
“We’d prefer to have performed extra attacking. The gamers did a superb job with the construction. We acquired accomplished by two nook kicks. The second was actually poor from our standpoint.
“It’s going to take some efficiency as a result of they’re a extremely good crew. You by no means know what’s going to occur. Let’s attempt to get one after which see if we will get two. We’ll decide ourselves up for subsequent week and hopefully get the group behind us.
“This crew we’re taking part in shall be Champions League subsequent yr. Now we have to recognise what we’re taking part in in opposition to. We’ll must do exceptionally nicely to get that end result.”
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianksi made a string of fantastic saves to maintain the hosts at bay.
The previous Poland worldwide, who turns 39 subsequent Thursday, added: “We’re very dissatisfied.
“We labored arduous for 80 minutes after which we gave two objectives away from set-pieces. Often defending set-pieces is our power however you need to give plenty of credit score to the opposition as a result of they pushed the entire recreation.
“The extra disappointing factor is that we conceded the second objective. It offers them a bit extra confidence. We gained’t hand over. Now we have to consider and reply within the second leg.
“I wouldn’t say we ran out of vitality. Each groups did their greatest. In the long run the second set-piece felt too straightforward. It felt just like the striker had an excessive amount of house.
“Now we have a extremely good report at dwelling. They’re particular magical nights and hopefully the second leg would be the identical.”
To make issues worse, West Ham shall be with out Lucas Paqueta by means of suspension for the return leg.
Leverkusen’s former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka stated: “We knew earlier than the sport West Ham can be deep, however we confirmed another time we have now the standard to beat these groups.
“The second objective helps rather a lot for the second leg and we’ll must be targeted from the start.”