JEROME Thomas has urged his team-mates to dwell only on the positives as they look to bounce back from today's 6-0 defeat at Chelsea.

The former Charlton winger says the Baggies were severely punished by the Barclays Premier League champions for defensive errors.

But he felt there were periods in the game where Roberto Di Matteo's men showed they can compete in the top flight.

"It was a very tough start," said Thomas.

"We knew it was going to be hard against Chelsea, the champions, at Stamford Bridge.

"We got a bit of a beating but it was our first game and we've got to pick ourselves up now.

"We can't afford to get too down.

"There are plusses we can take away from the performance.

"We need to take away those plusses, get our confidence back up, tweak the little things we did wrong and learn from them.

"We were trying not to concede early but unfortunately we did just that.

"After that I feel a few of the players had the jitters and were panicking a bit.

"Once we settled down and started playing our game we looked comfortable.

"I think that's one of the key points we need to take away from the game.

"The difference between the Championship and the Premier League is you get time on the ball and space in the top flight - and you've got to be intelligent.

"But if you make a mistake with the likes of Drogba, Anelka, Malouda and Lampard around, these players are going to punish you - and that's what they did."

One big highlight on an otherwise difficult afternoon was Thomas' left-wing performance against Portugal international right-back Paulo Ferreira, who was substituted on the hour mark.

But the 27-year-old midfielder insists he can improve as he begins to turn his attentions to Saturday's home clash against Sunderland (ko 3pm).

"I'm playing against the best players in the world," he added.

"That's who you want to test yourself against and is why I wanted to play again at the top level.

"My job is to create and score goals and if I haven't done that, I haven't done my job - and I didn't today.

"I need to get back on the training field and get back practising.

"The lads will be disappointed for the rest of the night.

"We've got a warm down tomorrow and the internationals have a couple of days off.

"We're all off Monday and we need to have it out of our system by Tuesday and go again for Sunderland next Saturday."