West Ham captain Declan Rice described being on the pitch during his side’s 4-0 loss to Brighton as “demoralising”.

However, it is understood West Ham have no inclination to sack Moyes in light of the defeat.

“That wasn’t a performance that was acceptable at all,” said Rice.

The England midfielder told Sky Sports: “I got a yellow late on, I could’ve got another one and I never want to feel like that on a football pitch. We’ve let the fans down massively.

“Credit to Brighton, they played us off the pitch. I know it’s cliched to stand here and say it’s not good enough but on days like today you have to apologise to the fans.

“We’ve let them down, let the club down. As a player I’m hurting.

“To be out there, it was demoralising – to stand there, to try to defend and see them keep the ball.”

The Hammers went into the match at Amex Stadium having lost only one of their past five top-flight games, including thrashing Nottingham Forest 4-0 in their previous league fixture.

But they were completely outclassed by Brighton, who condemned the visitors to their biggest defeat of the season.

Moyes faced chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing”‘ and “sacked in the morning” during the second-half.

“I totally understand,” said Moyes.

“They’ve been watching a really good team for the last three years, a team that’s been finishing sixth or seventh in the Premier League, that’s got into the semi-final of Europe, who’s just won the group in Europe again, so I understand it’s hard to come and watch that performance.”

He added: “There was anger from everybody. Anger from the supporters, anger from the manager. The players are angry, they’re disappointed with themselves.

“That’s the way it’s got to be – we’re not accepting what’s happened today.

“We’re going to try to do something about it, to make sure the next performance is better.

“We need them [the fans] behind us. Good supporters support when it’s bad as well as good. And for the last few years it’s been really good here.”