ALAN Pardew refused to make excuses for the disappointing defeat against Wigan last night and promised that his team will work hard to bounce back against Charlton on Saturday.
Despite seeing key players such as Danny Gabbidon, Tomas Repka, Yossi Benayoun and Teddy Sheringham ruled out through injury, the Hammers boss was admirably honest about the performance and admitted that he expected more from his players.
He said: "I don't think it would be right to blame the defeat on our injury problems. We had two or three come back to us and, with the team we had out there, I didn't expect a first-half performance like that.
"We set the team up to make sure we were strong and were looking for a clean sheet, but in the first 20 minutes, we looked vulnerable and did not look like we were offering too much of an offensive threat either, so I changed it.
"But it did not get any better and then it was scratching your head time, really, because the set of players we have, they have been brilliant.
"It's important that we don't dwell on the performance, though, we have to bury it and look at the Charlton game, to try to get us back to where we were."
Bouncing back from defeat is a quality that Hammers have certainly shown this season. The team's record of not losing two successive Premiership matches is still in tact, and hopefully will remain so after our trip to The Valley this coming weekend.
Pards admits an improvement will be needed if that is to be the case and is confident that, if his players can show the high tempo and determination that has been the key to our impressive first half of the campaign, 2005 can end on a high against Alan Curbishley's men. ÒWigan are a good team, but they didnât have to play to their maximum and it's the first time this season that we've gifted the opposition the points.
"One of our targets at the start of the season was that everyone had to play at their maximum and make the opposition work hard for a result, and we let that slip against Wigan.
"All season we've been honest and shown character, but this makes us realise that we can't take our foot of the pedal or afford to play at 90% in the Premiership - we have to be at 100% at all times.
"It's frustrating for everyone but we have to take the positives out of everything we've done so far this season and keep looking forward. We've got a nice points total to build upon between now and the end of the season."
Pards revealed that he hopes to welcome back one or two key players from injury within the next week and also admitted that he will be working hard to add more new faces to his squad when the January transfer window opens next week.
"The good news is that Teddy, Yossi and Tomas Repka aren't too far away. It may be too soon for them on Saturday, or even on Monday against Chelsea, but I would hope to have them back in the squad by the time we play Norwich in the FA Cup.
"In terms of our safety in the Premier League, we must build upon what we did in the summer, the transfer window is a crucial period for us and I hope to add to the squad."