Jussi Jaaskelainen believes West Ham United will learn from the mistakes they made during the 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat at Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
The experienced Finn conceded that the Hammers did not put in the kind of performance fans have come to expect his season, but hopes the experience will prevent it from happening again.
Jaaskelainen also believes that West Ham might even have grabbed a point if their goal - scored by James Tomkins in the third minute of added-time - had come a few minutes earlier.
"We did not really turn up in the first-half and in the second-half we gave them a soft goal which did not help," said the No22. "After that I think we played OK. We created a few chances and as always when you are losing we would have liked to play for a few more minutes at the end.
"We did not play well as individuals or as a team and we did not cope with the counter-attacking way in which Wigan played, so it is very disappointing."
The goalkeeper admitted that Wigan had enjoyed the better of the game before half-time, when their five-man midfield controlled the game. When West Ham themselves moved to similar formation after the break, Jaaskelainen feels they more than matched their hosts.
"The level of performance we have had this season has been very good and when we went system-against-system in the second half we woke up a bit and played a lot better, but it was too late."
Whatever system the Hammers employ against champions Manchester City this weekend, Jaaskelainen knows his side cannot afford to make a slow start as they have done in their previous two Barclays Premier League matches.
"Last week against Southampton it was a similar kind of game. We did not turn up in the first half but we got two early goals after half-time and it gave us that little lift to go on and win the game.
"We came in at half-time 1-0 down at Wigan but our biggest mistake was letting them take a 2-0 lead [within two minutes of the restart]. You do not get second chances in this league and once you make a mistake, the ball is in the back of the net."
Moving forward, the goalkeeper is hoping that he and his side will remain a more focused, stronger and complete unit.
"There was a few shots I had to save but not a lot. The first goal came from a set piece and I think that is the first we have conceded from all season. Hopefully it will not happen again in the future but it is one of those things that can happen in football so we cannot afford to dwell on it."
When asked if he was pleased with his individual performance Jaaskelainen remained modest.
"That is my job at the end of the day and if I did not do it well somebody else would come in and do it - that is always the way I look at it. They scored two goals but other than that we did OK which shows how harsh the Barclays Premier League can be.
"When I came here I knew Big Sam was a great manager and I knew he would expect me to play well if he gave me the opportunity to play. Working with Martyn Margetson is also going very well so hopefully I can keep working hard and the results will be better than Saturday."
