ALAN Pardew is looking to add at least one player to the Hammers
squad in the next two weeks.
However, with senior stars like Steve Lomas, Matty Etherington and
Sergei Rebrov all back in training this week, the Hammers boss is
relishing a selection headache for this weekend's Championship
clash with Plymouth.
"We're in better shape than we were last week,"
admitted Pards, "although the loss of Luke Chadwick with a
torn hamstring is a blow.
"He's looking at least four weeks out, but it's good
to have Steve Lomas back with a full week's training under his
belt and also Sergei and Matty back in training as well.
"The squad could do with a boost and I've got one or two
players in mind to try and bring in.
"But at my last club we had to bring a player in quickly
because of an emergency who wasn't eligible to play in the
Play-off Final, and that's a situation we obviously want to
avoid. As manager I've got to think about and cover for every
eventuality and make sure we've got a full quota of players
available right up to the end of the season.
"We've got a busy week ahead of us next week with a trip
to Gillingham on Tuesday and then Leeds on Saturday. Hopefully,
we'll have a productive week next week and then I'll be in
a position to bring in one or two players. That will then be the
squad which will take us into the final push for promotion."
In the past couple of weeks, Pards has talked about strengthening
his defensive options, particularly with Christian Dailly still
four weeks away from fitness with a thigh injury.
However, the Hammers boss praised the solid performances of his
rearguard in recent weeks.
"The back four have done really well in the last three
games," he said, "and we've got some stability in
there now, which we've been missing for most of this season.
"It's going to be important that we keep things tight at
the back as we go into the run-in and hopefully we'll be able
to keep a fairly settled line-up.
"We'll probably wait until after the Leeds game, and then
look to bring somebody in on loan."
Pards Looking To Boost Squad
17th February 2005