Mark Noble told WHUTV he expects West Ham United to "stick together" and go to Liverpool with a positive approach despite the weekend disappointment against Chelsea.
The 20-year-old midfielder was a tireless performer again on Saturday but, like his team-mates, found the visitors from west London in imperious mood. Noble felt the side started brightly but lost any foothold in the game once Chelsea were awarded a 17th-minute penalty which was converted by Frank Lampard. Quickfire strikes after that from Joe Cole and Michael Ballack ended it as a contest before Lampard's dismissal. An Ashley Cole goal in the second half rounded out a frustrating day.
"We are thoroughly disappointed," Noble said of his 50th first-team appearance in an interview with the club's online video service. "I felt the first ten minutes we were in it, we had a couple of half chances." He explained that the opening goal came about when Chelsea quickly countered a home attack that was stopped in its tracks by the referee blowing for a foul. "They went straight down the other end and got a penalty and it was all downhill from there."
Noble, who played a decisive role with the only goal when West Ham United last faced Liverpool on 30 January, is more than up for the Anfield trip in midweek ahead of a trip to Tottenham Hotspur next Sunday. "We have got to stick together now and get our heads up for Wednesday. We have just got to go there and do everything we can to put this behind us and get a result. If we can do that we will go into the Tottenham game confident and then push on to the end of the season."
The England Under-21 international revealed there was a determination at the interval on Saturday to do better but agreed it was always an uphill task. "We knew that. We went in three- nil down at half-time and wanted to come out and give a good account of ourselves and not make it a drubbing but we just couldn't get a goal back. All fairness to them, they stuck behind the ball well with ten men and really made it hard for us."