Former West Ham United captain Kevin Nolan made 157 appearances for the Club, scoring 31 goals, between 2011 and 2015...
Looking from the outside, it has been a difficult start to the season for the Hammers. The injuries have not helped and I have sympathy with Slaven and the lads in that regard, but it is now up to the players on the pitch to stand up and be counted.
It is very early in the season and that’s a positive, but it’s got to change sooner rather than later because if you don’t get points on the board early, then you start to fall behind.
Even if you are only three points behind later in the season, say, you are thinking that one win gets you back level, but then you lose and they win and all of a sudden the gap is six points and a lot harder to close.
After the season the lads had last year, it was always going to be more difficult this year, for a few reasons.
First, they have left the Boleyn Ground for London Stadium, and it always takes time to adjust. I was at the new ground recently working with Football Focus and it is fantastic for the players – all the facilities are brand new and they don’t want for anything, but it still takes time to get used to and get comfortable in your new surroundings.
For the players, they have got to forget about everything going on around them and just concentrate on what is happening on that bit of green grass they play on every week, because that variable doesn’t change, and nobody else can effect what happens there.
In the dressing room, too, the players have got to take responsibility. This is a time when the big characters need to stand up and inspire themselves and their teammates. We have got plenty of big characters at the Club like Nobes, Ginge, Andy, Cheikhou and Adrian, from those I played with, and they need to let the whole squad know that the players are the only ones who can get themselves out of the current situation.
While that is the case, the atmosphere can really help. I know from my four years at the Club what a powerful force the fans can be and, at times like these, you really need everyone behind you, giving you confidence and belief in what you are doing.
As a captain, when performances are not great, people look to you from inside and outside the dressing room for confidence and belief. I know Nobes and he has the drive and the ability to lead the team out of this.
He is a fan, as well as the captain, and he will be hurting as much as anyone, as he said in his interview after the Southampton game.
He now has to focus on how he led the team through their difficult period before Christmas last season, when the squad was without a lot of injured players, but managed to come through that period unbeaten. Nobes has got big and broad enough shoulders and he will lead by example.
The Middlesbrough game this weekend has a certain type of pressure attached to it.
At the start of the season, it would have been one that West Ham would have targeted three points from, and that is still the case, but they will come to London believing they can turn us over.
They’ve got some good players, like Stewie Downing who we all know well from his time here, and it will be a tough game, as they all are in the Premier League.
The London Stadium is inspiring visiting clubs, whose players will remember it from the London 2012 Olympic Games, but West Ham need to see this game as an opportunity to win and kick-start their season. I certainly hope the lads can do just that.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United.