West Ham midfielder Declan Rice has urged fans to be positive after their Carabao Cup quarterfinal defeat to Tottenham.
The result prevented West Ham from reaching their first Carabao Cup semi-final in eight seasons, but the nature of the display was promising and perhaps warranted more.
Rice reflected: “It was obviously the quarter-final of a Cup in which we've beaten two top teams already [in Manchester United and holders Manchester City].
“We wanted to come here tonight and win again. We want to win a trophy, and we've just come up short again tonight, which is very disappointing, but I feel like there are a lot of positives to take.
“Other than the two goals which we gave away, which were really sloppy, I think we were really good tonight. We looked much better than we have in recent times, which is the main thing.
“I feel like to come here and play like we did, take the ball, move it, pass the ball and get in behind them… We just didn't have that cutting edge, which we've been missing recently, but there were positive signs there, to be honest.
“I thought we had a lot of chances in the first half, and in the second half we weren't as good in terms of creating chances, but I feel like we played the better football. There are positives to take, even though it was a defeat."
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