Zouma admits Hammers struggled in defeat to Freiburg

West Ham skipper Kurt Zouma was honest about his side's struggles in their 1-0 defeat to Freiburg.

The Hammers now face an uphill battle to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League after Michael Gregoritsch's late strike secured a memorable first-leg victory for the hosts.

David Moyes' side failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck, only matching Freiburg's total of four shots on target and recording just 41% of the possession.

But the Hammers will fancy their chances of pulling off a comeback in the last-16 second leg after beating the Bundesliga outfit home and away in the group stage — although Zouma knows serious improvement is required at the London Stadium.

The French defender, 29, told TNT Sports: "It was a tough game today, we didn't play well throughout the whole game. We didn't have many chances.

"There is another game next week and hopefully we can play better.

"There are many things [which could be to blame], we didn't start the game the right way, maybe physically but no reason.

"There are days like this in football."

Despite their sub-par display, West Ham will feel they should have been awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time after the ball appeared to strike the arm of youngster Noah Weisshaupt while it was in an unnatural decision.

In the end, the referee controversially chose to stick with his on-field decision following a long VAR check — but Zouma refused to use the late drama as an excuse for defeat.

He added: "I don't know [if it was the right decision]. The decision took a bit of time and the referee took a lot of time. It is what it is.

"The game is over. I don't want to go back to it now."