West Ham United captain Declan Rice says they need a big reaction after the international break, after defeat at Everton left them stuck in the Premier League's bottom three.

Neal Maupay's second-half goal earned Frank Lampard's side a 1-0 win at Goodison Park, condemning the Hammers to a fifth league loss in seven this season.

The visitors had chances but were unable to take any of them and left empty-handed once again before Rice and Jarrod Bowen joined up with Gareth Southgate's England for Nations League games against Italy and Germany.

“There was nothing in it until the goal,” Rice told whufc.com.

“It could probably have gone either way. In the first half, we gave the ball too much, on an honest reflection, and we didn’t do enough with the ball.

“Second half, it probably took until they scored for us to up the tempo and actually look like we were going to score and that can’t happen. You can’t be like that.

"You have to be on the front foot constantly and always feel like you’re threatening the goal, and it shouldn’t need a goal to go in to get a kick up the backside.

“That’s how it is, so we need a big reaction after the international break. That’s the way forward now.”

Although West Ham had more goal attempts than Everton (14-7), they were careless in possession at times and Rice knows they need to do better on both counts.

"We need to take more care,” he added. “If you look at the quality we’ve got and the amount we give the ball away by making silly decisions, we can’t play like that.

"We need to be better at keeping the ball, passing the ball and moving the ball.

“I want the front players to play as freely as possible and feel like the best players in the world, but if we keep making the same mistakes and not learning, it will come back to haunt us. We did that in the first half and next thing they get a goal and hold on for the three points.

“We created chances, but it’s like we take the chances for granted. Every time you get a chance at goal, you’ve got to take it positively and think you’re going to score and if you take chances for granted you won’t get goals and you won’t get points.

“The signs are there that we are creating the chances, but we have to start putting them in the back of the net and we need to get three points after the international break.

“We need a reaction and we need it fast. The last two years have been incredible but they’re only memories now. We’re down the bottom of the table, which isn’t a good thing, so we need to pick ourselves up and get out of that. It’s down to us."

England visit Italy on Friday (7.45pm) and host Germany on Monday (7.45pm), with West Ham returning to Premier League action against Wolves at London Stadium on Saturday week (October 1) at 5.30pm.