Sam Allardyce has stated his focus this week will be on making sure his West Ham United side come out all guns blazing for Saturday's London derby with Fulham.
The West Ham United manager watched on last Saturday as his side were beaten 3-0 by high-flying Chelsea. A visit of 18th-placed Fulham on Saturday offers the Hammers an opportunity to get back to winning ways at home and set themselves up nicely for the third game in a hat-trick of consecutive London derbies at Crystal Palace three days later.
"I've got to keep instilling the confidence in the players," Allardyce said. "I saw a little ebb of a lack of confidence when the first goal went in against Chelsea, which I haven't seen this season. We've always been very positive and always given our all even though we've failed to turn lots of good performances into wins.
"It's my job to pick the players up and remind them of the previous performances we've had home and away and make sure we get to that level and stop those fears creeping in against a Fulham side, which will offer us the chance to get three points.
"We must keep a clear head and focus on playing on how I know they can play. I'm in charge and my results aren't going well at the moment and so I am going to what I can do to put it right."
With rumours abounding over which players Big Sam and the Board may be targeting in the January sales, the manager has stressed those stories are of no significance to him at present, with eight crucial matches to play before the window opens on 1 January. Seven of those fixtures are in the Barclays Premier League, with a Capital One Cup quarter-final trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday 18 December thrown in as an early Christmas gift.
"It's alright saying we're going into the market in January but there are too many games between now and January that we've got to make sure we get points from. It's tough going at the minute for us and it's my responsibility to keep their heads up, pick them up and keep telling them how well I know they can play.
"I've said to the players that because you've thrown away the wins you know you should have had you're putting yourself under so much pressure now you'll find it tough to play football as easy as it was a few weeks ago.
"Take that little bit of time over a pass and you could end up passing it to the opposition and make those basic errors more you than usually did. So we've got to dismiss all of those negatives and get back to a positive attitude."
Big Sam also took time to praise the 'electric' Hammers fans for their support since he guide the team back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. He understands their frustrations that results are not going as planned as present and vowed to get them roaring with approval again as soon as possible.
"We've been in the Premier League for 18 months and I've had nothing to criticise the fans for. I don't criticise them booing on Saturday because they expected a better show against the opposition than they saw.
"They would have not booed us if we'd given a better show than we did against Manchester City. They pay their money and if they don't see the sort of passion, determination and desire they think they should then they'll show their disapproval.
"You've got to give them something to shout about. We can't expect them to cheer to get a goal unless we're giving them something to cheer. They're electric and they help us an enormous amount.
"I didn't ever think I would be sat here now when we've lost four games at home already. Last season we only lost four at home all season and now we've lost four in 12 so I've got a massive dilemma on how to turn that back around again."
