Brighton thrashing 'demoralising' for West Ham

West Ham's defeat by Brighton was their 14th in 25 Premier League games this season

West Ham captain Declan Rice described his side's 4-0 Premier League loss to Brighton as "demoralising".

"That wasn't a performance that was acceptable at all," England midfielder Rice told Sky Sports.

"I got a yellow late on, I could've got another one and I never want to feel like that on a football pitch. We've let the fans down massively."

He added: "Credit to Brighton, they played us off the pitch. I know it's cliched to stand here and say it's not good enough but on days like today you have to apologise to the fans.

"We've let them down, let the club down. As a player I'm hurting.

"To be out there, it was demoralising - to stand there, to try to defend and see them keep the ball."

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The Hammers went into the match having lost just one of their past five top-flight games, including thrashing Nottingham Forest 4-0 in their previous league fixture.

But they were completely outclassed by Brighton, who condemned West Ham to their biggest defeat of the season and led to some Hammers fans calling for manager David Moyes to be sacked at full-time.

"There was anger from everybody," said Moyes. "Anger from the supporters, anger from the manager. The players are angry, they're disappointed with themselves.

"That's the way it's got to be - we're not accepting what's happened today.

"We're going to try to do something about it, to make sure the next performance is better.

"We need them [the fans] behind us. Good supporters support when it's bad as well as good. And for the last few years it's been really good here."

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