Hard Work Ahead

Trevor Brooking says that the squad will have to improve under Alan Pardew if West Ham are to achieve automatic promotion at the first time of asking.

"We have got to get better, that is all it is; stronger, more clinical, and professional to make the opposition work to get the ball," he insists.

"Other teams are getting the ball too easily, especially in the second half, so it is a case of trying to work on that."

As for the handover following the Burnley game, Trevor adds:

"Alan will backtrack on the games and look at the pluses and the minuses to remind himself what has gone wrong and it is all part of the analysis side.

"Paul and Roger have been very good with me, and will still be helping with Alan.

"Alan and I have had chats and I think we are both pretty clear on how we are shaped up to now, and probably where we need to be going.

"Any additions we get you want to be contributing, and any loan signings we get especially will prefer to play rather than to not play in the first team somewhere else and not play in our first team either.

"You are looking to try and get people who will play rather than be squad players, but it is a balance and when you have a few little games in quick succession like we have, you are not going to be lucky keeping everyone fit.

"If you get two or three knocks you need changes and you want to make sure you have the quality changes to bring in."

As for what emotions he might feel after his last game in charge, he adds:

"I am sure I will think about it a little bit more a few days afterwards, but you do get wrapped up in the job and move from one game to the next.

"Once the Burnley game is out of the way I will be thinking briefly about working in the media for the Arsenal game and then you haven't had every hour of the day thinking about your preparations for the next game.

"It will gradually take effect, I am sure - it has been a fascinating insight and something I will never forget.

"But more than anything there will be time to reflect on it later because we are quarter of the way through a season where we have to move on and help Alan as soon as he comes in - and help him to improve us.

"It is more pleasurable if you get a result but not so great when the opposition has equalised midway through the second half and you sense your team is on the back foot.

"Then, it is racing through your mind how to rectify it and turn it round, then before you know it the final whistle was upon you.

"Your emotions do change very quickly but you can't brood on it too long because there is always a game round the corner.

"The fans have been fantastic and I appreciate that; all I ask the fans now is that get totally behind Alan now and give him the backing I have been very lucky to have."

Trevor is looking forward to getting his voice back and he adds:

"Mornings are a bit croaky but I am not as bad as I used to be when I first took over - a lot of it is a waste of time, but not always."

Looking at his legacy, as it were, he says:

"For me the good factor is that I think we can get better, to be honest.

"We are pretty close to the top so that for me is a major plus; we have a good spirit and set of lads that want to do well, and we have to try and get better, and get the extra depth in order to challenge the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield United, and Sunderland - who are certainly contenders like ourselves.

"No one has stood up yet, though, and said 'we are the ones to catch' - there is not yet, I think, a club looking a notch above the rest.

"It is encouraging that that no one has soared away like Portsmouth did even though we are a quarter of the way through - they were six or seven points ahead at this stage.

"We have to make sure whoever is at the top doesn't get any more ahead of us and the first way to do that is to win on Saturday.

"If we want one of the two automatic places it has to get better, and that is not to say we haven't done well in different games and got some good results.

"We are looking to bounce back so you have to set your standards a little bit higher and see what you need to do to achieve that, and raise it a notch or two so you have a flurry where you win four or fives games on the trot.

"Then suddenly you have accelerated and at some stage we have to keep in touch until we have one of those little spells.

"It has been very different because of the changes in the group of personnel; this time there are a lot less overseas players, they are willing, and respond well.

"You want them to do well and we need to help them raise their level of performance when it is needed and get more depth so that when we have one or two injuries so quality will be sustained.

"What I do know at the moment is that Alan needs a lot of help to get us to one of those top two places and we are not able to think of achieving that without having to improve a bit."

Burnley's visit to Upton Park is the first meeting between the clubs for 20 years, and Trevor saw them heavily beaten by Ipswich in the week.

"They had a big flu virus sweeping the club so they were one short even on the bench the other night so that was a double whammy for them," he says.

"But any defeat like that, 6-1, has an impact, you look for a reaction, and I am sure that is what Stan Ternent is doing.

"From our point of view we have to make sure they if they are fragile we test them out, because we certainly need the six points ourselves in the next two games after dropping two against Norwich.

"I want to make sure we finish on a good winning note and are at worst only a couple of points behind the leading team.

"It will, I am sure, be a much tougher game than the one I watched at Ipswich when they conceded five in the first half, but having said that we also have to make sure we perform at the right level from our point of view and if we do that we can take care of the game.

"But we have to do it over a conistent period of 90 minutes.

Looking at the season as a whole so far, he says:

"We have lost two away but won four so we have the same points as if we had won three and drawn three.

"We have taken 12 points home and away; in the latter case it is pretty decent if you keep doing that, and in this league if you keep winning matches rather than drawing too many it would help.

"We could have won four at home and lost two and still ended up with the same points so although you have ended up unbeaten there is still a good performance waiting to emerge for the home fans to witness.

"I have had moments when I have not felt convinced or happy we are in the groove and at home we have to be standing there thinking 'I think we have got this one buttoned down' if we are to get in the top two - and we have not been able to do that sufficiently."