He can't give up and he won't give up. And although
the media may reckon that the Blades have cut his side's
survival hopes to ribbons, with 15 points still up for grabs, Alan
Curbishley is refusing to raise the white flag of
surrender.
"Things can still change dramatically by Saturday," insisted the defiant Hammers' boss following the disappointing defeat at Sheffield United. "We've been handed three tough games inside a week and after playing Chelsea on Wednesday, we've then got to recover in time for the Everton match.
"Who knows, we could still get six points from our next two games and we've got to go into both of those home matches giving it our best shot, trying to win and expecting to win.
"In recent weeks, we've lost some vital games against Charlton Athletic, Watford and Sheffield United, while we twice failed to beat Fulham, too. Looking back, they were all massive matches and we should've done better against those teams around us because they were big, big games.
"Since I've been here, though, we've also got to remember that we've beaten Manchester United at Upton Park and we should've beaten Spurs at home, too.
"Although our fans left Sheffield in a quiet mood, they certainly won't let us do anything else than give it a right go, starting with those next two games at Upton Park.
"We've known for some time now that we need to win the majority of our matches and, although we've lost to Sheffield United, nothing's changed.
"And we've also been looking at other teams' results, too, so nothing's changed there, either."
Despite his side's three-goal victory, Blades' boss Neil Warnock cautiously admitted: "Still, nobody can say who's safe and who's not."
Certainly, Curbs was quick to agree with his Bramall Lane counterpart.
"Sheffield United have clawed away from us but there's still a long way to go and I wouldn't think that they think they're safe just yet," he added after seeing a cocktail of missed opportunities and slack defending end the revived Hammers' sensational three-match winning streak.
"The bottom line was that we had a couple of great opportunities but we didn't score and we paid the price for that. We needed to do more in the final third but after getting ourselves into some decent positions, we then tried to be too intricate instead of letting fly. Sometimes, you need to be a bit more positive in those situations.
"I felt that the first goal was always going to be important. Sheffield United started on the front foot and the tempo was in their favour and, although we got going, we were still lacking in our final pass.
"Michael Tonge's opener was a fantastic strike - I don't know whether Anton Ferdinand should've got a second yellow card for the free-kick that led to their first goal but we still paid for the foul anyway.
"I changed it around after the break and we had a couple of really good chances to get back into the match. However, we needed to take one of those in order to change the shape of the game and, if we'd scored, then the atmosphere would've altered, too.
"But we were then done for a soft second goal from another set-play - we've given away too many free headers at corners far too often - and it was 'game over'. Although it was a fine header from Phil Jagielka, I was very disappointed with the goal because no-one got near enough to challenge him.
"The result was a massive leap for Sheffield United just as it would've been for us if we'd won," continued Curbs, who is now left to focus on that final quintet of matches against Chelsea, Everton, Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United.
'There's a squad available to me and I'll have to look at my options in terms of changing things around. Obviously, we've got to win some games and score some goals between now and the end of the season.
"Sure, everyone wants to see some exciting football but sometimes it's not all about performances, it's about getting a goal and holding on to a lead," he concluded, hoping that Hammers can lower the blue flag of Jose Mourinho's quadruple-chasing team on Wednesday evening. "We go into that game against Chelsea trying to win three points and knowing that we must score.
"There are three points at stake out there and we've just got to go for it!"
"Things can still change dramatically by Saturday," insisted the defiant Hammers' boss following the disappointing defeat at Sheffield United. "We've been handed three tough games inside a week and after playing Chelsea on Wednesday, we've then got to recover in time for the Everton match.
"Who knows, we could still get six points from our next two games and we've got to go into both of those home matches giving it our best shot, trying to win and expecting to win.
"In recent weeks, we've lost some vital games against Charlton Athletic, Watford and Sheffield United, while we twice failed to beat Fulham, too. Looking back, they were all massive matches and we should've done better against those teams around us because they were big, big games.
"Since I've been here, though, we've also got to remember that we've beaten Manchester United at Upton Park and we should've beaten Spurs at home, too.
"Although our fans left Sheffield in a quiet mood, they certainly won't let us do anything else than give it a right go, starting with those next two games at Upton Park.
"We've known for some time now that we need to win the majority of our matches and, although we've lost to Sheffield United, nothing's changed.
"And we've also been looking at other teams' results, too, so nothing's changed there, either."
Despite his side's three-goal victory, Blades' boss Neil Warnock cautiously admitted: "Still, nobody can say who's safe and who's not."
Certainly, Curbs was quick to agree with his Bramall Lane counterpart.
"Sheffield United have clawed away from us but there's still a long way to go and I wouldn't think that they think they're safe just yet," he added after seeing a cocktail of missed opportunities and slack defending end the revived Hammers' sensational three-match winning streak.
"The bottom line was that we had a couple of great opportunities but we didn't score and we paid the price for that. We needed to do more in the final third but after getting ourselves into some decent positions, we then tried to be too intricate instead of letting fly. Sometimes, you need to be a bit more positive in those situations.
"I felt that the first goal was always going to be important. Sheffield United started on the front foot and the tempo was in their favour and, although we got going, we were still lacking in our final pass.
"Michael Tonge's opener was a fantastic strike - I don't know whether Anton Ferdinand should've got a second yellow card for the free-kick that led to their first goal but we still paid for the foul anyway.
"I changed it around after the break and we had a couple of really good chances to get back into the match. However, we needed to take one of those in order to change the shape of the game and, if we'd scored, then the atmosphere would've altered, too.
"But we were then done for a soft second goal from another set-play - we've given away too many free headers at corners far too often - and it was 'game over'. Although it was a fine header from Phil Jagielka, I was very disappointed with the goal because no-one got near enough to challenge him.
"The result was a massive leap for Sheffield United just as it would've been for us if we'd won," continued Curbs, who is now left to focus on that final quintet of matches against Chelsea, Everton, Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United.
'There's a squad available to me and I'll have to look at my options in terms of changing things around. Obviously, we've got to win some games and score some goals between now and the end of the season.
"Sure, everyone wants to see some exciting football but sometimes it's not all about performances, it's about getting a goal and holding on to a lead," he concluded, hoping that Hammers can lower the blue flag of Jose Mourinho's quadruple-chasing team on Wednesday evening. "We go into that game against Chelsea trying to win three points and knowing that we must score.
"There are three points at stake out there and we've just got to go for it!"