Alan Pardew admits that the return to winning ways in
the Premiership has served to strengthen the spirit in the West Ham
United camp ahead of the trip to Middlesbrough this coming
weekend.
The Hammers boss says it has been a week in which the players and
staff have been able to take another step forward following the 1-0
victory over Arsenal last Sunday, but insists there is still a lot
of hard work to be done in order to get out of the position they
find themselves in.
"The spirit of the team has been very high again and that was
probably the biggest factor in our victory, the return of that in a
stronger fashion," says Pards. "I have had a good week of
looking at the team, realising that some of my players have
returned to form.
"Everybody has been in good shape in training, and we had a
good reserve outing in the week, so there have been a lot of good
things for us to experience.
"But I have made it loud and clear that I don't feel we
are out of the mire yet. We've had a couple of great results,
but I made sure the players didn't get the wrong message in
that they think 'oh, alright, we've got a couple of
victories that's good'. To be fair to them, they don't
think like that.
"The standard I set here for the players is for all of them to
keep the intensity and the passion against whoever we play. And it
won't be acceptable to me if I don't see the same passion
that we had against Blackburn and Arsenal when we travel to
Middlesbrough.
"We have gone back to the work ethic and spirit that we
know," he adds. "To be fair, that has not gone away, but
perhaps the confidence to go and close teams down that comes from
winning a game, was not evident, and now it is.
"They got this from the win over Blackburn and that, for me,
was all that was probably missing from the group. Of course you
question if what you are doing is the right thing when you are not
winning, so in a way the Blackburn result would have had more of an
effect than the Arsenal match, because it gave us belief in what we
were doing was right."
The Hammers boss will be up against an old friend on Saturday in
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate. The pair, who keep in regular
contact, know each other well from their playing days together at
Crystal Palace.
While all friendship will be out of the window for the 90 minutes
on Saturday, as Hammers look to make it three wins in a row, Pards
will catch a word with his counterpart after the match.
"Gareth is a good friend of mine," he says. "I spoke
to him the other week and about the difficulties he's facing up
there, but I think he's an astute guy and there are plenty of
people within the game who will help him.
"He was a young guy at Palace when I was a senior pro there.
He was my dogsbody if you like, but a very good one! I'm being
tongue in cheek here, Gareth was a nice kid, he had the mickey
taken out of him for his clothes, but he's got a bit of a
trendy hairstyle now I see! In all seriousness, as I said, he's
a nice guy and I like him.
"One thing I do remember from those days is the absolute focus
Gareth had on being a professional footballer. He worked on every
aspect and from that he went on to achieve a lot in the game, which
was fantastic for him and I'm sure he can take that passion
into his role as manager of Middlesbrough and be a success."
The Hammers boss will be hoping to take an almost fully-fit squad
to the Riverside, with the only doubts being Anton Ferdinand and
Bobby Zamora.
Ferdinand had to limp off just before half-time against Arsenal
last weekend after suffering a blow to his Achilles tendon when
blocking a shot. A scan this week has revealed some bruising and
the defender will face a late fitness test before the trip north.
Zamora will also be monitored after suffering a knock on his ankle,
also against Arsenal, but defender James Collins returns to the
squad after recovering from a groin injury.
Pards adds: "Given the run we had recently, there were
questions asked of us, but I knew I had a great team of staff
behind me, great players and at some point, the run would end and
we needed to keep looking forward to that.
"Our players have had a lift from the Blackburn match,
followed that with the win against Arsenal and we want to take all
of that into our game once again on Saturday."
by Laura Burkin