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First team coach Teddy Sheringham has refused to take the credit for West Ham's recent change of fortune in front of goal.

The former West Ham and England international returned to Chadwell Heath this summer as part-time attacking coach, since when West Ham have hit nine goals in their opening five Premier League league matches. At 1.8 goals per game, that's a huge rise on last season's average of 1.05 goals per match.

However it is an improvement Sheringham refuses to acknowledge solely as the result of his input. Speaking exclusively to the KUMB Podcast, he said: "I'd love to take the credit - but [I can take] none at all!

"We've got some fantastic players that we've brought into the club during the close season and I think the manager's seen that and is trying to exploit that. He waited a little while for [Enner] Valencia to get fully fit, Sakho's come in and really impressed along with Zarate and Stewart Downing.

"These boys have got talent. Downing; Zarate; Valencia, who strikes the ball amazingly. He's got that whip on free kicks that people like David Luiz and Ronaldo have, he can do that as well. When you've seen someone strike the ball like that you know he can score so you say go on have a go, why not?"

Despite refusing to accept the plaudits for West Ham's recent change of fortune in the final third, Sheringham did at least admit to having worked on certain routines with his forwards that have paid dividends in recent weeks.

"I didn't ever think that I would feel so proud of players that I coach when they score a goal," he mused. "We've been doing shooting practice with Mauro Zarate - who scored a volley [at Crystal Palace] that we'd worked on, and Stewart Downing who scoring a curler that we'd done earlier in the week.

"It was like 'oh wow, I'm glad I did that'! Perhaps it put something in their minds. I'm not trying to take the credit for it, I'm just saying it's nice. I can't believe how much [satisfaction you take from] our players scoring when you're working towards that goal.

"If I see a player who shoots from outside the area, I keep seeing it in training and then he tries it on a match day and it's lame I'd say, "why are you trying from there? You can't score from there, that's not your game. Slip somebody else in and get in the box".

"But if somebody's shooting from the edge of the box in training and keeps bending it in the top corner or keeps dipping it under the bar, you'd say, "well why don't you try that in a game"? You try to ask players to do what they're good at."

This weekend the Hammers face a trip to Old Trafford, another of SHeringham's former hunting grounds. It's a trip that more often than not results in defeat for West Ham, although Sheringham has different ideas this season.

"I think it's a fantastic time to play them," he said. "Whenever a team is not sure of themselves it's a a very good time to play them. Their forward line is like wow, we've got to keep them at bay, but they can be got at at the moment and if we go there with optimism, who knows?

"We have to go with an air of caution, obviously. We've got to be very careful because with their forward line they could go bang, bang, bang and we're 3-0 down with three shots. We've got to be right on the ball and hopefully our forward players can come out and produce the stuff they've been doing over the last couple of weeks."

* You may hear to the full interview with Teddy Sheringham in the lastest episode of the KUMB Podcast, which also features West Ham Ladies captain Stacey Little.


Teddy on... the season so far

Tottenham (h) 0-1: "We were unlucky. I thought we had the better of the game and should have won it really."

Crystal Palace (a) 3-1: "It was a good time to play Crystal Palace. We played very well, dominated the game and won it with conviction."

Sheffield United (h) 1-1 (lost on pens): "The Sheffield United game was a bit of a surprise for us really, going out to them."

Southampton (h) 1-3: "They dominated us. They had a system that worked really well and I was very impressed with them on the day."

Hull City (a) 2-2: "Since [the Southampton defeat] we've just had a different air about us. playing against Hull we felt confident that we could go up there and get a result - and we were unlucky again not to [win]."

Liverpool (h) 3-1: "To turn Liverpool over the way we did, everyone was delighted. We felt optimistic about that and I don't think we've been optimistic about beating the big teams in the last couple of years, it been more in hope whereas the optimism was definitely there at the game."

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