West Ham Players' Lack of Effort

Danny Gabbidon, returning to West Ham after being declared unfit to play for Wales, has claimed that the players' lack of effort has contributed to West Ham's poor season. Gabbidon ends by hinting that he may be amongst the players looking to jump ship if West Ham end up being relegated,

“We have all got to look at ourselves and say ‘have we performed like last season?’ And the answer is no. Maybe there was complacency, maybe believing in the hype. We had such a great season last term and then when you come back after the summer you expect everything to be the same.

Maybe our achievements were too high, we thought we could do it again. We should have been looking at making sure we survived rather than thinking we could win all the time. Because we did so well we over-achieved and expectation was so high. Even as players we probably thought we were a bit better than we were.”

The thought of the Championship is not a good one. In the top flight you play against great teams and players every week and that is where you want to stay to play your football.

I’m at the stage of my career when I want to keep progressing. I’m 27, I’m not at an age where I want to drop down a level. I want to be in the Premiership, that’s where the best players are. And being in the top division will help me at international level. Anyone in the team would say we want to stay in the Premiership after what we achieved last season, but there still time to get ourselves out of it.

If not, the players I’m sure will be assessing the situation.”