Manuel Pellegrini admits West Ham were not as committed as Everton as the Hammers wilted in a 2-0 Premier League defeat at Goodison Park on Saturday.
The Hammers were second best all over the field in Saturday's early kick-off, with Bernard sending the Toffees into half-time with a deserved 1-0 lead.
Everton missed a host of chances after the break and, while the Hammers briefly threatened to sneak an unlikely draw in the closing stages, Gylfi Sigurdsson's brilliant injury-time struck secured all three points to ease the pressure on Marco Silva.
The defeat was West Ham's second in a row in the Premier League, and while those results came either side of the international break, Pellegrini was concerned that his players failed to show as much fight as Everton.
In Pictures | Everton vs West Ham | 19/10/2019
"I’m disappointed because I think we didn’t have a good performance," the manager told reporters.
"We knew before the game that it was a very tough game in a difficult stadium and the position of Everton reflected how much they needed these points.
"They ran and they fought for the 95 minutes and they deserved the win.
"If I remember the last game we played here in this stadium, we came in the same position as Everton were before the game, losing four games in a row, so that is something that allowed them to demand more from their players and that’s what they did.
"When you are in the situation that Everton found themselves in, maybe you have more energy.
"In this same stadium, we came to play them after four defeats and we beat them 3-1.
"It seemed our team ran double them, but today was different and they ran as if every ball was the last one of their lives and we couldn’t be able to try to play in a different way and find the same level as them."
