Pablo Zabaleta says the Hammers will use the international break to work on finding their consistency after seeing their three-game Premier League unbeaten run come to an end at Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday.
West Ham were handed a 1-0 defeat by the Seagulls to end a sequence which saw them defeat Everton and Manchester United, with a draw against Chelsea sandwiched in between.
Argentina defender Zabaleta was disappointed to leave the Amex Stadium empty handed, but said his team paid the penalty for early sloppiness even though they did enough after the break to turn the game around.
The experienced right back believes the Hammers need to show what they did in the second 45 minutes across the whole game, so says there is work to be done before they return to action at home to Tottenham Hotspur on 20 October.
“In the first half we gave the ball away often and cheaply,” he explained. “This is the Premier League and you can’t make those mistakes – we conceded the goal and then you always need to react.
“In the second half we were the better team, we kept the ball and created good chances but we couldn’t score.
“You need to be consistent as a team. Week in, week out you need to play well enough to pick up points. This is the most competitive and demanding league, so you have to be ready to play one game against a team who likes to keep possession, then the next against someone who is more direct.
“Every game is different and you have to be prepared to stop this. Then when we have the ball we need to play like we did in the second half.
“At this moment, all we need to do is learn and improve mentally, to be ready to play in the way we did for the second half for the 90 minutes.”