Curbs: we could do better

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley has revealed that he had hoped his side would do better this season after the dismal 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth in midweek. Curbishley had hoped for a solid season.

"I wanted a nice solid season that would give us a bit of a foundation for next year. I wanted to be on the back pages for the right reasons, instead of the reasons we were on them last year.

"I find the job frustrating at the moment. All season things have come along and caused us problems, in terms of team selection.

"Criticism is part and parcel of football. I am honest enough to say that in the last couple of weeks we haven't done well enough.

"You can't hide from that. Whatever the problems we have had, we should have done better. We should have coped with the last few weeks. We haven't got the results and it is a results business."