Sam Allardyce believes West Ham United can take great heart after coming through an incredibly testing run of fixtures with points in the bag.
Sunday's narrow 3-2 defeat to Liverpool at the Boleyn Ground capped off a run of seven games that included six of last season's Barclays Premier League top ten. With two wins and two draws yielding eight points, Big Sam feels his side can be confident ahead of another tough fixture at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
"We need to keep the levels of confidence and energy that we have shown and hopefully we will continue to perform and get some positive results," Allardyce said.
"We knew Liverpool would continue to keep possession but what we perhaps did not do in the first half was close them down high up enough.
"We wanted to start the second half as we finished the first, we sat back a little too much in the beginning of the first half and it made counter attacking a lot more difficult to do."
It was a case of the old boys doing the damage as former Hammers Glen Johnson and Joe Cole scored a goal apiece. An own goal from James Collins completed the scoring for the Reds with a Mark Noble penalty and a Steven Gerrard own goal replying for the hosts.
"We did everything we could to win the game. We came back from an outstanding goal from Glen Johnson. We could look at it all day long but there is nothing we could do about it.
"It is where you want players to hit it from because it is not very often they go in but he hits it with such power and pace it goes over Jussi Jaaskelainen before he can react.
"We came storming back into the game and we exposed their defence, I thought that finding Matt Jarvis would be key for us and ultimately it was.
"It got us 2-1 up, we won a penalty and then it was a great ball in that meant Steven Gerrard had to head it and he did it into his own net.
"We could have perhaps avoided Joe Cole's run but the ball from Raheem Sterling was superb, he has played it first time and cut right between our two defenders.
"I think from there on, Winston Reid almost got a block in but it just went over him. Jussi could not have done much about it either, it was two pieces of very good skill from Liverpool.
"Their second goal really got them back into the game, they had a lot of possession but they did not really create many opportunities.
"I was waiting for us to break out and try and get the third goal but the own goal came as a real killer. If Shelvey had touched the ball it would have been a wonder goal but it hits Collins and goes in - 99 times out of 100 it does not end up in the net."
Momo Diame suffered a hamstring injury after 73 minutes and his manager is concerned that the initial signs suggest the knock could be serious. While it will be assessed in earnest on Monday, Big Sam knows that his absence will further test his already depleted squad with Guy Demel also forced from the field with muscle tightness.
"We had a massive blow when Momo Diame pulled up and had to come off because everything good about us going forward was generally coming from Mo.
"He was breaking behind Liverpool's midfield and it allowed the full backs, the wide men, Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole to get in the box. We could not cope after he went off, we sat back too much and Liverpool punished us.
"Guy is not so much of a problem, it is just a little tightness and we also have George back so we can put O'Brien on the right which will help us going forward.
"I think the big problem is Mo Diame because it looks like he will be out for a while. You can tell by the way he went down that it is big tear and it is now up to the medical staff to recover him as quickly as they can.
"It is not just Mo Diame that is out and it is not just two weeks that our players are out for, it has been a crushing blow for us but we will continue to do our best with the players we have available.
"Yossi Benayoun has been out for a while, George McCartney has just returned, Andy Carroll is now out, we have not seen Jack Collison all season, Alou Diarra has been out for three months as has Vaz Te.
"The trouble we have now is the injury tally is mounting up, we have little or no options in most positions and going into December you want to be able to rotate.
"It gets harder and harder to perform especially in your first season back in the Barclays Premier League, when it gets down to the nitty gritty, you want all your players fit but we do not have that."
The Hammers will be hoping to bounce back in their next home game against Liverpool's neighbours, Everton, on 22 December. There are now less than 500 tickets left for the game, which has been designated Kids for a Quid. To secure your seat today, click here.
