"It's a nice honour, obviously, especially as the other nominees were from big clubs," he says. "But it's not good enough; you don't get remembered for second place in this game so hopefully next year I can get first place.
"But I'm not arguing with Steve Gerrard winning that because he has been outstanding."
Joe is already looking forward to the next campaign and adds: "Hopefully next year it will be a better season; West Ham have got the players there, we just need a way of using it. We've got to work harder and grind out more results."
Joe says he doesn't mind which system the Hammers play next year, and explains: "I'm a footballer and I can play in most positions, but I leave that side of things to the gaffer; he decides what formation we play and my job is to try my best wherever he puts me."
Looking back at last weekend, he says: "We only have ourselves to blame; in the first half we were a bit embarrassing and fair enough, in the second half we played well, but we can't start the way we did and expect to beat teams, even the struggling sides.
"And it's going to be tougher next season with Fulham and Blackburn coming up. If I knew why we started so slowly I'd be very rich!"
"It would be nice to finish the season with a win at home because the fans deserve it. Then we can send the fans home knowing we are safe."
West Ham are injury hit of course, especially in midfield, but that does not daunt Joe who might be asked to do more defensive duties at the weekend.
"Hopefully we can finish with a flourish," he says. "I know we have injuries but that happens everywhere because the game is so fast. But at West Ham all the injuries seem to come in one position at once..."