West Ham manager Alan Curbishley today admitted his players still bear the scars of their 4-0 thrashing by Chelsea ahead of tomorrow's match at Liverpool.
The Hammers travel to Anfield for the Barclays Premier League fixture still in a state of shock after being humbled on home soil by Avram Grant's team at the weekend.
And while Curbishley is confident his side have the mettle to bounce back, the 50-year-old knows that a vast improvement is required against Rafael Benitez's men.
He said: "We're still a bit embarrassed and stunned about losing 4-0 at home to Chelsea at the weekend. We've spoken to the players about it, and we'll never forget it.
"If you give quality players time and space on the ball, you will get punished - but it will make us ready for tomorrow night and Sunday's game at Tottenham.
"We knew we were going into a tough week, but we started off extremely badly, and we need to improve tomorrow night against a top team."
Although his team are 10 points adrift of Liverpool with just 11 league matches still to play, Curbishley continues to harbour hopes of European football for his team next season.
But the former Charlton manager knows that defeat at Anfield - where West Ham have not won since September 1963 - would virtually extinguish the Hammers' hopes of qualification for next season's UEFA Cup.
Curbishley admitted: "If Liverpool won, it might finish us off in terms of breaking into the European places. We're in no man's land, and we need to change that.
"There are so many permutations, but it looks this season as though finishing seventh or even sixth might not be good enough to get into the UEFA Cup.
"We are not too far behind Portsmouth, Blackburn and Manchester City - but we just can't seem to catch them at the moment.
"We don't want the season to peter out. If we lose, we don't seem to go anywhere, and if we win, we don't seem to go anywhere. The next three or four weeks will decide our fate.
"Liverpool will be more disappointed than ever this season that the top teams in the league have got away from them.
"But they have so much quality in their side, that they can hurt any team on any given day - as they have shown in the Champions League."
Despite the thrashing by Chelsea, Curbishley is likely to name an unchanged squad for the trip to Merseyside.
His only doubt is over the fitness of French midfielder Julien Faubert, who picked up a knock following a clash with his compatriot Claude Makelele during the defeat by Chelsea.
Curbishley added: "We're hoping that one or two players will come back from injury and give us a bit of impetus for the run-in.
"Last season we had a great run-in to save ourselves from relegation, and we will be looking to do something like that again.
"We need to win the majority of our games, otherwise we will stay where we are."
