He may have known the route to Upton Park like the back of
his hand. But as former Hammer Alan Curbishley prepared to make his
way back to the Boleyn Ground, he was still unsure of the starting
line-up that would, ultimately, give him his first-ever managerial
victory over Manchester United at the umpteenth time of
asking.
"We had only had an hour with the squad on Friday and a quarter-of-an-hour with the defence, midfield and forwards on Saturday," revealed Curbs, after seeing Nigel Reo-Coker's 75th-minute winner send out tremors at both ends of the Premier League.
"And with Bobby Zamora not feeling quite right and Hayden Mullins needing a fitness test I really didn't know what my team was going to be.
"I'm still getting to grips with their names but, looking down the squad, I wanted to field players that I knew a little bit about, with a view to bringing on others who might be able to affect the game later on. I think that people like Carlos Tevez and some of the others understood my way of thinking and that they took that decision okay.
"I asked the 11 who were picked to go out there and give it everything they had and those players responded. In fact, it was imperative that they did because, to be honest, yesterday's wins for Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United had left me a bit flat.
"With respect to those teams and their opponents, by facing the leaders, we were certainly up against it and if we hadn't got anything today then the gap at the bottom would've been even bigger.
"Overall, everyone can see that this was a great result for us," insisted the new man in the Hammers hot-seat, who had just steered his troops to only their fifth win of the season over the table-topping Reds, unbeaten in their previous dozen Premiership outings.
"It's taken me a long time to beat Manchester United and I'm so glad that the time finally arrived because we desperately needed it. It's been a perfect day.
"We stopped United scoring with some fantastic blocks and tackles and there are some very tired people back there in the dressing room right now. If I hadn't have got a terrific performance like that, though, I'd have been in trouble, but these three points mean that we can now push on from here.
"You'd have to say that this was an unexpected result because Manchester United are flying. They've had a fantastic start to the season and there's a titanic battle going on at the top of the Premiership right now. Although they got on top in the second half Robert Green made some tremendous confidence-boosting saves for us. I may have been out of the game for six months but I quickly remembered what it was all about during those last five minutes!
"There was a lot of pressure on us to get the result today and stay in touch with everyone down at the bottom of the table because the Premiership is an unforgiving league and teams can go on runs without getting results. If you fail to turn things around, you're in trouble.
"Outside of the top four, you've got to win more than you lose against the teams around you, and anyone who has been down at the bottom will understand that. This young West Ham side, which was on the crest of a wave last year, hasn't been here before so I'm hoping that my experience will now help us to cope.
"And when we scored the crowd made a noise that was a real noise. I just hope we can go on and do that so much more because we should be making things difficult for visiting teams here at Upton Park.
"Last year, the fans galvanised the players and the team galvanised the supporters and West Ham had such a great season but, while the fans have still been getting behind the players this year, they just haven't delivered for them.
"There's a new man in charge here now and they've all got the chance to express themselves both in training and whenever they get the chance to play," continued Curbs, who is clearly determined to sweep a new broom through the corridors of Upton Park. "Each and every player has started off with a clean slate and it's now up to each and every one of them to show me something.
"I don't envisage anyone leaving here during the transfer window and, as far as I know, no-one wants to go either, while it's also notoriously hard to bring people in if you're at the wrong end of the table.
"As far as I'm concerned, this is only a short-term situation for me to get this club out of the bottom three so that we can then start to enjoy the rest of the season. After that we can take a longer-term view and start to push on."
Certainly, alongside the outstanding Green and Lee Bowyer, Nigel Reo-Coker also produced a captain's innings to provide the perfect springboard for the start of that long climb up the Premiership table.
"There's been a lot of criticism levelled at the players and, perhaps, Nigel's taken the brunt of it," concluded the victorious Curbs, before heading off to prepare for Saturday's visit to Craven Cottage. "It's easy to pick on someone when things aren't going well and I don't know anything about his situation but all I know is that I see everyone as they are.
"If Nigel needed to answer his critics then he's certainly done that today but I'll be even happier if he goes and does it at Fulham next weekend, too!"
"We had only had an hour with the squad on Friday and a quarter-of-an-hour with the defence, midfield and forwards on Saturday," revealed Curbs, after seeing Nigel Reo-Coker's 75th-minute winner send out tremors at both ends of the Premier League.
"And with Bobby Zamora not feeling quite right and Hayden Mullins needing a fitness test I really didn't know what my team was going to be.
"I'm still getting to grips with their names but, looking down the squad, I wanted to field players that I knew a little bit about, with a view to bringing on others who might be able to affect the game later on. I think that people like Carlos Tevez and some of the others understood my way of thinking and that they took that decision okay.
"I asked the 11 who were picked to go out there and give it everything they had and those players responded. In fact, it was imperative that they did because, to be honest, yesterday's wins for Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United had left me a bit flat.
"With respect to those teams and their opponents, by facing the leaders, we were certainly up against it and if we hadn't got anything today then the gap at the bottom would've been even bigger.
"Overall, everyone can see that this was a great result for us," insisted the new man in the Hammers hot-seat, who had just steered his troops to only their fifth win of the season over the table-topping Reds, unbeaten in their previous dozen Premiership outings.
"It's taken me a long time to beat Manchester United and I'm so glad that the time finally arrived because we desperately needed it. It's been a perfect day.
"We stopped United scoring with some fantastic blocks and tackles and there are some very tired people back there in the dressing room right now. If I hadn't have got a terrific performance like that, though, I'd have been in trouble, but these three points mean that we can now push on from here.
"You'd have to say that this was an unexpected result because Manchester United are flying. They've had a fantastic start to the season and there's a titanic battle going on at the top of the Premiership right now. Although they got on top in the second half Robert Green made some tremendous confidence-boosting saves for us. I may have been out of the game for six months but I quickly remembered what it was all about during those last five minutes!
"There was a lot of pressure on us to get the result today and stay in touch with everyone down at the bottom of the table because the Premiership is an unforgiving league and teams can go on runs without getting results. If you fail to turn things around, you're in trouble.
"Outside of the top four, you've got to win more than you lose against the teams around you, and anyone who has been down at the bottom will understand that. This young West Ham side, which was on the crest of a wave last year, hasn't been here before so I'm hoping that my experience will now help us to cope.
"And when we scored the crowd made a noise that was a real noise. I just hope we can go on and do that so much more because we should be making things difficult for visiting teams here at Upton Park.
"Last year, the fans galvanised the players and the team galvanised the supporters and West Ham had such a great season but, while the fans have still been getting behind the players this year, they just haven't delivered for them.
"There's a new man in charge here now and they've all got the chance to express themselves both in training and whenever they get the chance to play," continued Curbs, who is clearly determined to sweep a new broom through the corridors of Upton Park. "Each and every player has started off with a clean slate and it's now up to each and every one of them to show me something.
"I don't envisage anyone leaving here during the transfer window and, as far as I know, no-one wants to go either, while it's also notoriously hard to bring people in if you're at the wrong end of the table.
"As far as I'm concerned, this is only a short-term situation for me to get this club out of the bottom three so that we can then start to enjoy the rest of the season. After that we can take a longer-term view and start to push on."
Certainly, alongside the outstanding Green and Lee Bowyer, Nigel Reo-Coker also produced a captain's innings to provide the perfect springboard for the start of that long climb up the Premiership table.
"There's been a lot of criticism levelled at the players and, perhaps, Nigel's taken the brunt of it," concluded the victorious Curbs, before heading off to prepare for Saturday's visit to Craven Cottage. "It's easy to pick on someone when things aren't going well and I don't know anything about his situation but all I know is that I see everyone as they are.
"If Nigel needed to answer his critics then he's certainly done that today but I'll be even happier if he goes and does it at Fulham next weekend, too!"