Manuel Pellegrini says his West Ham United team are on the right track, but need to improve their efficiency in front of goal if they are to climb the Premier League table.
The Hammers have suffered back-to-back 1-0 losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur, but had 30 attempts on goal over those two games – leaving them feeling that they could, and should, have seen more reward for their efforts.
Pellegrini concurs with that viewpoint, although he concedes that the east Londoners cannot continue to be so wasteful when they return to Premier League action at Leicester City on Saturday.
He said: “We are improving in a lot of things and now we need to improve in being calm, finishing with accurate passes and our movement.
“If we create four or five chances at the moment we cannot score, we need to create eight or nine.
“We are always talking with Marko and we are always asking him and he can play. All the players have moments when they score more goals and they don’t, and Marko will return [to that form].
“With Andy Carroll we have at least two or three weeks more and I think he will be back maybe after the next international break.”
Following their trip to the King Power Stadium, the Hammers take on Tottenham once more in the Carabao Cup with the boss confident his team can get the right result on that occasion.
He added: “It’s a different competition, I think Tottenham will change their normal starting eleven because they also play on that Monday against Manchester City.
“We don’t have too many players also, so we will see which team plays better on the day.”