Jarrod Bowen shared the disappointment of the whole Claret and Blue Army at Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League.
West Ham United headed into the lunchtime derby optimistic of extending a good recent home record against the Blues, but instead were made to suffer a third straight defeat in E20 to begin the 2024/25 campaign.
The Irons found themselves up against it from the off, when Nicolas Jackson strode through to give the west Londoners a fourth minute lead, and then repeated the feat just 14 minutes later.
Bowen was frustrated that his side never gave themselves a chance in front of their home support - especially when Cole Palmer's goal within two minutes of the restart quashed any hopes of a second-half comeback.
The Hammers skipper was honest in his assessment of the contest, offering no excuses for his side's below-par display.
"It's a massively disappointing game, and one that didn't go the way we wanted it to," the skipper admitted.
"We're really disappointed with how we performed and the result as well.
"The goals were very easy, especially the first one which came from a free-kick - it was schoolboy stuff, you never take your eye off the ball.
"In the Premier League the players you're playing against have quality and they can really hurt you. We concede a free-kick in the middle of the pitch and we need to be savvy about it, maybe take the yellow card to stop a quick one, because a lot of teams would do it against us.
"The second goal again, I think we were trying to get after the ball, then the striker's through on goal and it's 2-0.
"You come in at half-time obviously disappointed to be 2-0 down, but in the second half you have nothing to lose and can throw everything at it - but we conceded after 90 seconds which again takes the stuffing out of us.
"It's a disappointing day all round."
The loss means the Hammers have been dealt that bitter feeling by Aston Villa, Manchester City and now the Blues in Stratford already this season.
Bowen is hurt that the team have been unable to give the fans anything to cheer on home turf so far in 2024/25, but says that by remaining as one, they will begin to show their true selves.
"I hate losing games and I hate losing games in the manner that we did today," he continued. "I think that's normal for any person, but I hate it.
"The fans come here and they wanted to see good football and good performances. We didn't do that today so I totally get if they had enough of the game because we weren't good enough.
"We know what we can do together as one whole Club, one whole group. Yes, we're all disappointed with how the game went today but it doesn't define our season.
"There is a lot of football to be played, we stick together, everyone.
"It's easy to stick together when you're winning, but when you lose a game like you do today, it's important in the changing room that you do that.
"We share the fans' disappointment but we stick together and we keep going."
Bowen and his teammates now face a quick turnaround before returning to action against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
The No20 says that opportunity to put things right again cannot come around quickly enough.
"The only positive is that we've got a game Wednesday, we've got a game Saturday and we've got time to put it right," he added.
"It feels like we've been in this situation before - and I've answered these questions before - and there's two ways you can go about it.
"You can hide under it or take it head on, and that's what I'll do. That's what this groups of lads will do, we'll hit it head on because the fans deserve better."
