West Ham captain Matthew Upson believes there is plenty for the club to digest after the Newcastle defeat.
Skipper tells team-mates to take hard look at each other
West Ham United captain Matthew Upson believes there is plenty for the club to digest after the Newcastle United defeat.
The Hammers are in dire straights following Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Magpies, which left Avram Grant's side marooned to the bottom of the table three points from safety.
Grant's men were booed off at Upton Park at the weekend and some supporters were calling for the manager's head even though the Israeli has yet to reach 10 Premier League games in the West Ham hot-seat.
The struggling East Londoners must now prepare for Wednesday's visit of Stoke City in the Carling Cup, where a morale-boosting victory will go a long way to silencing the critics.
And Upson, who picked up a slight hamstring problem in Saturday's reverse, admits there will be soul-searching within the Hammers camp as they look to turn their season around, starting in midweek.
Bamboozled
"The supporters have every reason to be quite bamboozled how we can play so poorly in the second half, but we have to analyse that as a group," said the England international centre-half.
"The manager has to figure out the answers and we have to work on it. That is the only way to progress.
"If we do that we have enough to see us through this league campaign. It's just a case of getting it out there on the pitch."
Upson added: "We have to go away, analyse and find out the reasons why we underperformed.
"We know two wins is really going to pick you up out of there and thrust you into mid-table area. I think that is an area we feel we can realistically maintain."
After Stoke, Grant takes his side to title-chasing Arsenal.
Owners David Gold and David Sullivan have voiced their support for Grant over the last few weeks despite the club being rooted to the bottom of the table.
And the Israeli remains defiant. He said: "We know that we are going through a tough season, but even though we lost the game, we can still do it and we can stay positive about it."
