Pardew tells Zamora to sharpen up act

13 April 2012

West Ham manager Alan Pardew is rapidly losing patience with striker Bobby Zamora.

Pardew, who withdrew the ineffectual Zamora in the second half of the London derby defeat at QPR, warned today: "Bobby has not really shown his true potential for this club.

"He needs to do that - and quick." Zamora, who last season joined the club he supported as a youngster as part of the deal which took Jermain Defoe to Tottenham, has scored only once in the Championship this season, although he was out for a month through injury.

He was below par at Loftus Road on Saturday, however, and it is likely that Pardew will leave him out of his team who play Stoke at Upton Park tomorrow night.

There was also a warning today from QPR manager Ian Hol loway, whose team moved into third place in the table and five points ahead of West Ham as a result of their 1- 0 victory over Pardew's team.

"These players have been immense for me and I can't thank them enough," said Holloway. "I was under pressure the other week and look at their response.

"We haven't got as big a squad as everyone else, however, and these players have to be rewarded otherwise we will lose them.

"We need to secure more finances in order to move forward. Money has to come into this club."

Matthew Rose scored the only goal of the match to seal QPR's seventh successive league win and put them within one match of equalling their all-time record, set back in 1931.

At the start of the run Holloway's own future was being questioned, and the Championship club are still urgently looking for possible investors.

In the meantime, Holloway, who says he rides horses as a means of relaxation, continues to get the best out of his team.

He said: "This game is not all about possession but what you do when you haven't got the ball. In that respect, I couldn't ask for more from this set of players.

"We are flat to the boards at the moment, though, and we need 50 points to make sure we are in this division next season, which has to be our aim."

Holloway, who has injury doubts over Jamie Cureton and Danny Shittu for tomorrow's match at Preston, believes West Ham will be in the shake-up despite their defeat.

"They had to make five changes before they played and were still able to put out a side with a lot of quality," he said.

Pardew was far from satisfied with his team, despite the injuries which robbed him of four central defenders, Matthew Etherington and Teddy Sheringham.

"I was very disappointed," he said. "I had to make a lot of changes but I told the other players I wanted the squad to get us a result and that didn't happen.

"I wanted the players in the team to make it hard for the others to come back but that didn't happen.

"We just didn't have enough ambition when we had the ball. We have two more League games this week now and we must look to win them both. You must stay in touch in this League."

Pardew is hopeful that Sheringham, Malky Mackay and Etherington will all be fit to face Stoke but Calum Davenport will be out through injury.

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