Alan Pardew looks back at the 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea
Alan PardewThe number of games we’ve had and the smallness of our squad were a problem today. We had one or two players who weren’t at full capacity. Having said that I was astounded by their energy today. Marlon’s been hauling that fourteen and a half stone all over the pitch for the last eight days and I thought he was terrific today. We were up against a very very good side but the one thing that pleased me was the stadium. I know how important this game is to West Ham fans. To come up against Chelsea with the investment they’ve had it could have been a horrible afternoon if the crowd had approached it differently but they stuck with us and that was a help.
Strengthening the squad? Yes I’m gonna try. It’s a very important period for us. The window is open and we’re coming off the back of some tricky results. Katan’s coming in and that will help but more importantly we need to get some of our injuries back. Gabbidon is so close – I think he will probably play at Norwich. That’ll be a big boost for us and Teddy may be back against Villa. Yossi’s back and I thought he looked good today as well and we look a lot better with those boys available.
I’m not worried at the moment – I’ve seen a few comments but when we have our best team out against teams who are more on a level with us we’ll give anyone a game here. Stretched as we were today we gave an honest account of ourselves today. At 1-1 if we could have kept it tight we maybe we could have got something out of today.
Chelsea – these are world class players. We rode our luck at times and Roy Carroll made a number of terrific saves and Nigel Reo-Coker put in such a performance today that you wouldn’t rule him out for England if he can keep that up between now and the end of the season. It was very difficult for us today though – they were able to bring in fresh legs here and there.
The Christmas period was unkind for us in so many ways – Charlton’s match getting called of for example and we petered out in that second half at Charlton. Energy levels are so important for us and when it’s not quite there – as it wasn’t for us today at times – it makes it very very difficult. When we’ve played most teams we’ve competed and when we’ve come up against the big sides we’ve given an honest account and, for a promoted side, that’s all I can ask for.
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