Matthew Upson claims West Ham need to show more fight if they are to escape the clutches of relegation in May. The Hammers slipped back to the foot of the Premier League table on Sunday after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland.
They offered some resistance in the North East, but the Black Cats were able to fend off their sporadic attacks with relative ease.
Using a boxing analogy to explain the defeat on Wearside, the England international told the club's official website: "We don't feel like we laid too much of a glove on them, at least as much as we wanted to.
"It was a decent performance but we're a little bit disappointed coming away from a game where perhaps we could have thrown a bit more at them and created a bit more and possibly taken some points."
Despite suffering an eighth defeat of the season on Sunday, Upson believes the Hammers have begun to show signs of improvement.
He added: "We've had a big week, obviously with the big game on Tuesday (against Manchester United), so it would have been nice to have kept a non-losing streak going, as such. To have taken a point would have been a really good result after the week we've had.
"It wasn't to be but we've got to take the positives from the whole week really, regroup, and go again next Saturday.
"I think we've improved. We look like we've got a chance whereas, maybe two weeks ago, we weren't looking in such a positive state as we are now.
"It's good that the team can feel like that and I'm going into every game thinking we can take something from it."
On the weekend meeting with Manchester City, he said: "We need to set about it with a great attitude and high tempo and really make them aware that we're up for the fight.
"We need to set our stall out like we have in our past two home games, really take it to them, press the ball and decide how the game will pan out. I'm looking forward to it."
