Losing is never pleasant, but when it is your third Premier League defeat in a row and comes before an international break, it is even worse.

Over the two weeks since we were deservedly beaten at Newcastle, there has been plenty to fill the vacuum.

First of all, I want to say that our performance against Newcastle wasn’t nearly good enough — I said it straight after the game and I repeat it now.

Three games, zero points — okay, all away from home but, yes, a bad start.

The story is very simple, though. Okay, we have lost a little confidence but we can only come back through hard work — and a win.

Monday night’s match against Huddersfield is massive. We have to turn this bad start around and start to win games.

I admit I was down after Newcastle. It was a huge disappointment and a surprise in a nasty way.

Of course, we were not happy with the first two defeats. Against Manchester United, I was unhappy because we conceded two late goals, but against Southampton we showed a lot of character to come back from 2-0 down with 10 men, only to lose to a late, soft penalty. You are devastated, yes, after a defeat like that, but the performance at Newcastle was a real downer and unacceptable.

Was it the lowest point since I have been at West Ham? To be fair, we’ve had a few like that — and even in our first season I remember playing at Newcastle. It was 2-0 to them in the first half but it could have been five!

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Now we have our first home game. It will be a special one and it is time to do something.

I understand that Danny Gabbidon — a former West Ham player — wrote in an article that it looked as though I had “thrown in the towel” after the match two weeks ago.

I want to reply to that. I told the players afterwards that, yes, this is West Ham and, yes, we will lose games. Not like that, though. It was unacceptable.

I am not throwing in the towel and neither are the players. We will work hard to put this right — starting on Monday night.

The other thing which has dominated the last week or so has been our attempt to sign William Carvalho from Sporting Lisbon, an attempt that ultimately failed.

There has been much said and written since. There is much I could say but I don’t want to, not because I am afraid to have my say but because that is not my style. I haven’t said anything before and I don’t want to start now.

My job now isn’t to say what is the truth or who is to blame. My job is to raise the performance from what is a good squad of players which will get even better when everyone is fit.

I can talk about the facts and, yes, I have talked to my friends and my staff about what has gone on and, of course, I don’t agree with many things. Am I going to go public, though? No, that’s not how I work. What is the benefit to anyone to moan about things which have nothing to do with Monday?

We have a good squad. We ideally wanted another one or two and that’s why we offloaded some players, but it didn’t happen and that is the reality.

It was disappointing that we didn’t sign Carvalho because it looked as though it was going to happen and that defensive midfield position was one I have wanted to strengthen for some time. But it doesn’t mean that, because we didn’t sign him, we haven’t done good business this summer.

Although we will be without Manuel Lanzini, Edimilson Fernandes, who are injured, and Marko Arnautovic, who is suspended, I am hoping that Andre Ayew, who picked up a thigh injury playing for Ghana, will be fit for the Huddersfield match.

It’ll feel good to be home

We are looking forward to playing again in the London Stadium.

As last season progressed — the first in our new home — we became more comfortable there and I can remember matches where the atmosphere was really something special.

In the second half of last season, we really improved, both with results and performances. I can recall the matches against Tottenham, Swansea, Everton, West Brom and even Leicester, when we lost, we felt at home. It was a good feeling.

We have thought long and hard in the last couple of weeks about changing systems and we will see.

We are going to train at the stadium tomorrow and Sunday.

Huddersfield have yet to concede a goal and they are on a high. I am not going to say that they will go down, but they will level off at some stage.