Declan Rice admitted he was "devastated" as he bemoaned West Ham's home form following their loss to Crystal Palace.
The Hammers, who have started slowly compared to their last two campaigns, suffered their eighth reverse of the season as Michael Olise scored a late winner for the Eagles at the London Stadium. Rice has been a leading light for a West Ham side who have been pushing the top six in recent years.
This term though they are sitting in the bottom half of the table - just two points above the relegation zone. David Moyes' side recently acquitted themselves impressively in games at Liverpool and Manchester United - arguably looking the better team on both occasions.
But Rice has questioned why the Hammers cannot reproduce that form on their own patch. He told Sky Sports : “I’m devastated. It was a game that we had to win.
"There are two games left before the World Cup and they are games you need to win to put yourself in a good position before you go away. You lose one, you're now counting on next week, which we don't want at this stage of the season. It is not where we want to be, if you look at the quality we've got it is disappointing.
"It is really frustrating because I feel like we're two different teams. Away from home at Old Trafford, Anfield, Southampton - we keep the ball for fun, dominate the ball, create so many chances. Then at home, we look a different team and this is me speaking honestly.
"We don't pass like we do away, create chances like we do away, and that is just something we need to get. Home form is so important, it is good in Europe, but in the Premier League, it is too inconsistent. If we want to be a top team like we talk about then results like today are when we need to win.
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"We done that last year. If we didn’t win six out of six in the conference league then I would be disappointed, no disrespect to the opposition, but with the quality we've got we should win six from six. But the main competition is the Premier League, it is where you're watched, in week in, week out and today we weren't quite at it so we go midweek."
West Ham's final game before the break before the World Cup is another home game, this time against Leicester, who are levelled on points with the London outfit.
Moyes himself was left looking for answers after the defeat. "We gave them all the preparation to get ready for the game, but we didn't perform, we didn't perform well. We need to look at see if we can do better, the players were well rested and we hope they can play better than they did today," said the Scot.
