Steve Clarke believes Robert Green needs to play "the game of his
life" this weekend after the keeper's blunder in the 3-1 defeat at
Bolton.
With the game balanced at 1-1, Green inexplicably dropped
Gary Cahill's bouncing effort in the 77th minute, allowing Ivan
Klasnic to finish with ease.
The error proved crucial for the Hammers, who eventually went
down 3-1 at the Reebok Stadium and are now 19th, two points adrift
of Bolton and Wolves.
Clarke, West Ham's assistant manager, admitted afterwards
Green's mistake was the turning point in the match and said the
beleaguered England goalkeeper needs a stand-out performance in
Sunday's fixture against Chelsea to hit back at his critics.
"We just got back in the game, it looked as if we were in
control and Rob has unfortunately made a mistake and it is
something that we couldn't come back from," said Clarke. "Football
is all about mistakes. He has made a mistake but he is a man and
he'll deal with it.
"He'll recover and the best thing he can do is go out on
Sunday and have the game of his life. That is what he has to do -
he has to respond."
Clarke insisted the players are under no illusions about
their current plight but is confident they will soon turn the
corner. "The feeling in the dressing room is that we know we are in
a bad position," said Clarke.
"We know we haven't got enough points. The quicker we can get
a win the better - but we don't just need one win, we need three,
four, five wins.
"We are not stupid. We understand the situation and we are
working as hard as we can to rectify it.
"At the moment it's not easy but we have confidence in the
players, in ourselves and we are sure we can get out of the bottom
three."
Lee Chung-Yong and Cahill joined Klasnic on the scoresheet
for Bolton, who moved out of the relegation zone thanks to Wolves'
3-0 defeat at Manchester United. Gary Megson admitted there was
tension at half-time after the team had failed to convert a host of
chances but the manager believes Wanderers can now start looking up
rather than down having built on their impressive 3-3 draw with
Manchester City on Saturday.
"We thought tonight that if we won this we would be out of
the bottom three given the nature of Wolves' game," Megson said.
"But we also knew that if we did get out of the bottom three - I
think we're now three points away from 12th.
"We have a hugely significant and difficult game at Wigan on
Monday night but we've taken four points out of the last six and we
have got to try and keep that momentum that we have gained.
"I think there was a bit of anxiety today - not just from the
players, but from the supporters, from myself, the staff, everybody
because the game was not exactly a procession, but not far off it
in the first half.
"I can't remember West Ham having an effort at goal or a
cross or anything that was remotely dangerous, and yet you look at
the quality and you think that they are not going to need too many
opportunities. "To be perfectly frank, I felt we played better on
Saturday against City than we did today but we have scored three
goals at home in the last two games."
West Ham suffered another blow as injury-plagued midfielder
Kieron Dyer, who was making his first start for three months,
limped off midway through the first half.
"Unfortunately he just felt a tightening in his hamstring,"
said Clarke. "It wasn't a tear, just another small pull and it
could be an injury for another two or three weeks.
"To be honest I am just disappointed for the player. He has
worked very hard to get himself in a position where he can start a
game and he gives us something extra."
