Rob, of course, already knew Alan having played alongside him for Charlton, but he reveals that his team mates are already positive to what he is trying to achieve and the honesty with which he is trying to achieve it.
"I think the lads have been very impressed with him and he has made it clear he is his own man; he doesn't suffer fools, he will tell you if you are doing something he likes, and he will tell you if you are doing something he doesn't," says Rob.
"Players are quite happy with that because they know where they stand.
West Ham go into three away games now having drawn three on the trot at home, and Rob says:
"It is not nice dropping home points and when you look at Norwich and Burnley especially and we should have been three or four up in both games - and they should have been over.
"Unfortunately with the amount of chances we are creating we are not turning them into goals at the moment but the time to worry is when we are not creating chances.
"That would be a sign that the team is playing poorly and without confidence, but we are playing well enough and there are not too any things wrong though I am sure Alan will iron out what is wrong.
"We are still up there and tucked in quite nicely but I am never satisfied with a point.
"On Wednesday, though, we went behind to a fantastic goal; sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say there was nothing you could do about it - it was a very, very, good goal.
"In the second half once we got the goal I felt we had the better chances and were the better team, penning them in for long periods.
"On the balance of play we could have or should have won the game.
"Alan's knowledge of the game is very good and he pointed out a few things that he thought we were doing wrong, rectified them at half time, and in the second half we seemed to have much more of the ball, got into wide areas and got the crosses in, and we created a lot more chances than in the first half."