Frank Lampard urged his New York City teammates to move forward after suffering an embarrassing 7-0 loss to arch-rivals New York Red Bulls.

After missing the opening 12 matches of the season, Lampard was making his first appearance of the 2016 MLS campaign, but the former England international's return from injury was overshadowed as the Red Bulls put New York City to the sword at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

Amid a five-game unbeaten streak, the previously high-flying New York City came crashing back down to earth as braces apiece from Bradley Wright-Phillips and Dax McCarty gave Red Bulls bragging rights.

Speaking afterwards, Lampard - who replaced Andrea Pirlo with 15 minutes remaining and was greeted to a chorus of boos - said New York City had to get back to what they do best as they vie for top spot in the Eastern Conference.

"The only plus for me today is that physically I feel very good. It's been a difficult injury – so to feel good and feel 100 percent and to come on and at least play a part is good for me personally but obviously a very bad day for us," Lampard said of his return. "There's a lot to be done now. The first thing is that the league hasn't changed much. We lost a game, we lost three points, so we have to put that in perspective when we look forward as the plus.

"Obviously seven goals is a huge negative. We need to address the things that let us down today. We were all very honest here. Now is a tough day, and we need to address that, but now we need to start getting back to the things that were helping us get good results."

He added: "Now is the time to take it on the chin and show a bit of character and get a good result."