Lucas Neill looks back to Liverpool and has praise for Robert Green, Anton Ferdinand and Mark Noble. He is also delighted for Matthew Upson, has words of support for Luis Boa Morte and touches on his own busy schedule.
I was confident going into the Liverpool game on Wednesday night that a positive result would set us up nicely for the run-in for European qualification. A hard-fought 0-0 draw would have been a great result and well-deserved, but to win the game in the dying seconds was truly amazing. It is another big scalp for us and a result that has given an already confident team an injection of added self-belief.
As a team, I think we defended extremely well and yet again kept Greeny's work to a minimum. As a back five it is always nice to keep a clean sheet and a special mention must go to Anton Ferdinand who I thought was outstanding in everything he did. Liverpool showed us a lot of respect by getting ten men behind the ball and making it hard for us to play. As a result we didn't get the open flowing game that the fans were probably hoping for but great credit to the boys, who kept going to the last whistle and manufactured a great counterattack which ended in the penalty.
I have touched on the ability of Mark Noble before but yet again I have to say that he is one of the most exiting young talents in England and a massive part of the future of this club. I had every faith in him when he ran and got the ball for the penalty but it still took huge character and great composure to take his chance and send the home faithful into raptures.
The only low point of the game came when Luis Boa Morte was substituted. I was a little bit stunned as to why he received a negative reaction from a minority of the crowd. Luis is suffering with his confidence at the moment but the one thing he will always give you is commitment and an unselfish workrate for the team. I use Coley's situation as an example that once he gets his confidence back he will be an integral part of the squad. So please keep the faith that the rest of the team have in him and get behind him.
The next three games are a great opportunity for us to climb the table but as the old cliché goes it is one game at a time and we start with a very testing trip to Wigan. We all remember last year's amazing trip to the JJB when we took an army of 6,000 fans. It was a fantastic atmosphere, a huge result and an achievement we will be looking to emulate this weekend.
A massive congratulations to Matty Upson who was included in the 30-man England squad this week, I think it is well deserved for a fantastic season to date and I am surprised that he is the only one in this team that was called upon. It's a biased opinion but Robert Green has got to feel very hard done by - again! As he has been one of the stand-out keepers in the Premier League this season, it can only be a matter of time before his performances, along with Anton Ferdinand, Dean Ashton and Mark Noble, will warrant a call-up.
On a personal note, this is going to be a very tough week for me. Straight after the Wigan game I will be flying to Australia to play a World Cup qualifier against Qatar on Wednesday night. Then it is straight back on the plane to be ready for Birmingham at home on the Saturday. Physically it is going to be tough but with the break in matches that follows I know I will have a chance to recuperate. My desire to want to qualify for the World Cup coupled with the FIFA ruling means it's a game I must attend. However, I realise this is a very important time for me and the West Ham team as every win is crucial to achieving our European dream so I wish the timing could have been better.
Thank you for the continued support that helped us beat Liverpool on Wednesday and thank you in advance for what we hope will be an important result away to Wigan this weekend.
Lucas Neill