Gianfranco Zola refusing to let West Ham be ground down by the rumour mill

Ken Dyer
20 Nov 2009

Gianfranco Zola accepts that transfer speculation has had a negative impact on West Ham but refuses to use it as an excuse for his side's struggles this season.

The Hammers go to Hull for tomorrow's crucial match third from bottom of the Premier League and with talk of a fire-sale of their stars rife.

With the January transfer window just five weeks away, key men such as Carlton Cole, Robert Green and Matthew Upson have already been linked with moves.

The club, owned substantially by Icelandic investment bank Straumur, are emphatic there will be no mass departures - yet the rumours persist.

Whatever the talk off the pitch, Zola believes the responsibility for his team's fate lies with himself, his coaches and his players. He said: "I know there is speculation about our players but we want to keep them. We know how important they are for our future.

"I don't know what will happen in the future regarding the club but the situation was pretty much the same last year before the transfer window opened.

"If you ask me if all the speculation makes things more difficult I'd say that, considering the situation, the answer has to be 'yes' but I don't want to find any excuses. This is what we have and this is what we have to work on.

"We have to find from within ourselves the means to make this team progress and that is the only way to look at it, the only focus we need to have. We don't want any excuses, we don't need any excuses, they won't solve the problem."

Going into their last match, which was against Everton two weeks ago, West Ham had gone three matches unbeaten and had climbed out of the bottom three. Zola feels they should have maintained that improvement against Everton, who had two shots all match and finished up 2-1 winners.

While the result still rankles, the Italian is not panicking.

"Sometimes football is not a logical science," he said. "Last year, at this time, it was a similar situation, we were playing well but not picking up points. Then, all of a sudden, we started to win even though, at times, we were not playing as well.

"I know that we are making mistakes at crucial times. It is down to moments when things don't go well and we are being punished.

"For me the important thing is you don't lose your bearings. That's where last year was very important because the experiences back then taught us that, despite the trouble, we kept faith, kept working at the things we considered important. Eventually it turned around. We have only three points less than this time last year and, for me, we are playing better."

Zola will also know that it was exactly a year ago that things began to slowly improve for his team with the next three matches yielding five points.

West Ham follow tomorrow's match with a home clash against Burnley, another struggling side, and Zola is aware of the importance of picking up invaluable points from both games.

"These are two games that we can win," he said. "It won't be easy tomorrow because Hull won their last game against Stoke and they will be very much motivated for this one.

"I do believe it is up to us though and that, if we play as well as we have been, we can win this game tomorrow. Everyone here knows the importance of this match so we will be giving everything."