With Chelsea Next, How Do We Feel?

After a really tough loss against Manchester City, the Hammers head into this weekend’s match against Chelsea up against it (yet again). But were there encouraging signs on Saturday with the side showing better discipline at the back (even though they still need to work on their finishing). With all that being said, a loss is a loss. How are we feeling about the side going into the weekend?

Jonathan Lines: I'm currently making my way back from the Etihad with the strange feeling I've watched an actual football team.

We've spent the last two years getting smashed by the big boys, turning up without a clue how to play and falling into all the obvious traps clearly having not done our homework.

Not so today. I thought we were good. Rice was excellent. Zabaleta stood up to Sane well. The midfield actually pressed. Shame we dropped too deep too early but we looked knackered. Sakho can still be a good outlet in these sorts of games. We didn't get caught on the break

For context... we've got fewer points after 15 games than in 2010/11 when we went down. And we've lost again today. Also it's progress but it'll mean nothing unless we back it up over the next few weeks with the same level. We can get something off Chelsea if we do that again.

Wallace Milner: The match against Manchester City was a significant improvement, but I'm still quite nervous about the club going forward. I can't shake the feeling that we aren't good enough to earn dig ourselves out of this hole. Still, the last match was a a step in the the right direction.

Jackson Schmidtke: I'm still rather down on the club right now. Everyone seems very optimistic and hopeful after what is ultimately only a moral victory against City. Moral victories only get you so far in this league and right now we need cold hard points. Our upcoming fixtures are really tough and we could be bottom of the league come boxing day. If we lose to Newcastle on the 23rd we're in big trouble.

Chad Hoy: In the spirit of optimism I will say that I feel better about the club than I have since Moyes started, and that’s saying something. The squad for Man City looked good. I’m hoping that wasn’t a fluke and that the tides are starting to turn with the work Moyes is putting the squad through. Also it’s freaking Man City so I wasn’t expecting much anyway and i suppose losing 2-1 is admirable. The problem is that we sit 19th and really need to start gaining confidence and fast or we’re going down. I think today that happened because they really made Man City work for kt. Also props to Moyes for switching up the starting XI. One of Bilic’s weaknesses was his stubbornness with his lineups so I’m happy to see some experimentation and the sitting down of players who just aren’t playing well (looking at you Joe Hart). Suffice it to say that I feel alright, even after a game that should’ve ended as a draw. The squad worked incredibly hard and didn’t just give up after the opposition scored a goal, so there’s progress being made. Just gotta turn that into results now.

Me (Trevor Criswell): I liked what I saw on Sunday and really think this could be a turning point. The one thing that always bugged me about Slav was that he was willing to try to beat some the big sides at their own game, allowing us to get cut wide open and give up lots of goals. Instead of trying to out-score City 4-3 or 5-4, Moyes understands what he has and what he needs to do for the team to survive. Even with the loss, I think there could be (could be) some belief about the side. That being said, we need points, not moral victories. I do think we get four points out of these next two games which will propel us through the rest of the season.