West Ham United defender Aaron Cresswell says the Irons have to take their positive performance against Liverpool into Saturday's Premier League home fixture with Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Hammers currently lie 17th in the table following Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat by the league leaders at London Stadium where, despite putting in a strong performance at home to Jürgen Klopp’s side, missed chances and two moments of decisive quality from the Reds ultimately brought about defeat for the Irons.
Looking to take the positives from the performance and move on ahead of Saturday’s game at home to Brighton, Cresswell spoke afterwards of the squad’s recognition of the need for improvement in both results and league positioning.
I can assure you that everyone is fully focused and understands the job ahead that we've got
Aaron Cresswell
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game going into it,” Cresswell said. “They weren’t 16 points clear at the top of the league for nothing, but I thought we defended well and got three or four quite clear chances.
“If we’d put one of them away, maybe it’s a different game, but there are a couple of positives in there from the game. I thought the lads gave everything they had and it just wasn’t to be.
“I can assure you that everyone is fully focused and understands the job ahead that we've got. We have to stick together, not just as players and coaching staff, but everyone involved at West Ham. We have to do our best from now until the end of the season.
“It’s a big game now Saturday. We’ve got to take the positives from Wednesday, recover over the next two days, and be in the best situation we can going into the game."
An experienced figure within the dressing room, 30-year-old Cresswell understands that, when results are not going your way, positivity and perseverance are two attributes key to recovering results.
Now in his sixth season in Claret and Blue, the defender also spoke of the parallels he sees with the current situation and manager David Moyes’ first spell in charge of West Ham, when the Glaswegian manager took over an out-of-form side and guided them to a 13th-placed finish.
“I think we’re in a similar situation to when the manager took over last time,” he observed. “Everyone knows now we’ve got 14 massive games left until the end of the season to dig as deep as we can to make sure, come the end of the season, we’re not in the bottom three.
“Of course we’ve had disappointing results, but in the Premier League it is tough. It is not just Liverpool who are a top team, there are plenty of top teams.
“We’ve got to stay positive, look to the future and make sure, come the end of the season, we’re well clear of that bottom three. As players we’ve got to give everything we can on the training ground and in games to make that happen.
“We have to stay positive no matter what. There is no point in being negative and saying 'Oh, we have a tough game now'. We have to go into every game now and look to maximise points and push up the table.”
