Losing 5-0 at home on the opening day of the Premier League season can never be considered a positive experience.
However, when the winning team is arguably the best in the world and you matched them for long periods of the first half, you can use that experience positively.
And that’s exactly what West Ham United will do with Saturday's loss to Manchester City, says midfielder Jack Wilshere.
“People can react how they want, but we need to be strong and we’ve got strong spirit and mentality in that dressing room,” said the No19, who hopes the Hammers can get off the mark at Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend.
“We knew it was going to be difficult. Of course, we didn’t want to lose 5-0, but we need to regroup, have a look at it on Monday and then get ready for Brighton, as that’s now when our season starts.
“We need to take the positives and then draw a line under it, because we did compete, for me, with the best team in the league for the first 30 minutes.
“We were a bit unlucky to concede that first goal and then it’s difficult when you’re chasing the game against a team like that, because you open up spaces and they go into them and they were ruthless.
“They were relentless and they were clinical and you saw that.”
While the overwhelming feelings around London Stadium on Saturday afternoon were disappointment and frustration at another heavy home defeat by Pep Guardiola’s side, the bigger picture showed promising debuts from summer signings Sebastien Haller and Pablo Fornals.
Haller was West Ham’s standout performer, leading the forward line superbly, holding the ball up strongly, linking the play accurately and going as close as anyone in Claret and Blue to scoring.
And Wilshere says the 25-year-old will be vital to the Irons’ chances of scoring their first points of the season at the Amex on Saturday.
“I thought Seb did well and Pablo did well when he came on,” he observed. “I said to them that they’ll probably not play in a game tougher than that in this league.
“There are different tests and difficult tests still to come but, against them, they make it so difficult as they make little passes and pull you out of position for someone else to go in. That’s why they’re the champions.
“It’ll be a different game at Brighton on Saturday and we have to prepare for that. We’ve got a strong spirit, so we put a line under it and go again.”