Mark Noble has admitted that West Ham United were not clinical enough in front of goal during Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
The Hammers failed to find the net against their London rivals at Selhurst Park as they slumped to a third consecutive loss in the Premier League.
"I think it was just a case of we didn't score a goal, their goalkeeper made a couple of really good saves and we had a couple of chances," Noble told the club's official website.
"If one of them goes in it's a different game, because obviously they'd have had to come out a little bit more. They came here to sit in and play on the counter and I thought we played really well first half. We just couldn't get the ball in the net.
"You've got to take your chances. That's why we're standing here now and we've lost the game 1-0. If you don't take your chances in this league you get punished. That was happening to us earlier in the season, we drew too many games and we were losing games because we couldn't score goals and that's why we ended up where we were."
West Ham, who are now seven points clear of the relegation zone, continue their Premier League campaign this Saturday at West Bromwich Albion.
