Hayden Mullins has urged the leaders in the team to stand up against Manchester City and summon the spirit that carried them to a famous win over Liverpool.
Mullins will lead the team with Graham Stack for the final two games of the season, against Manchester City tomorrow at 6pm and Arsenal on the final day, and believes the team have already shown they can topple the big boys in that epic win over the champions at Vicarage Road.
“It's definitely something we will look at,” said Mullins, when asked about the win over Liverpool in February. “We were excellent that day. We played with a lot of energy, great discipline and did the job really well. We'll definitely look at that and take a lot of positives from that. We are a team who can play really well and hurt the other team. We must focus on what we can do, how we are going to do it and execute it.”
Everyone stood up that night, were at least a seven out of 10, and on-field lieutenants popped up all over the place. Vice-captain Étienne Capoue will be unavailable against Manchester City, but Mullins feels he's got plenty of others he can count on in the absence of the injured Frenchman.
“We've got a lot of leaders and we need every single one of them,” he said. “It's not just the XI – it's a 19, 20-man squad and that's what we need: everyone pulling in the same direction with one common goal and that's to get a positive result.”
Mullins was a player when West Ham escaped relegation on the final day in 2007 and he will be drawing on all that experience. The Hammers pulled off a 1-0 win at Old Trafford to clinch Premier League safety that year so he does not see any value in parking the bus and playing for a draw that might be enough.
“We've had two really good training sessions,” he said. “We are a good team, a good unit and a good squad and the team have shown since December that they can get results in this league. We have to be confident in what we can do and try and be as positive as we can tomorrow.”
This will be Mullins' second caretaker stint of the season – he took charge of the defeat at Leicester and the draw at home to Crystal Palace – and while the job in the first spell was to try and steady the ship before the new Head Coach came in, his task now is to get the team over the line.
“My approach is to try and organise us and be competitive and make sure that they all know their jobs when they get out on the pitch,” he said. “The players are the ones who go and carry it out. It's a very good team we are playing, with a fantastic manager, so we have to be as disciplined and as compact as we can.”
Mullins commands plenty of respect around the training ground for the 17-year career he had at the top level for the likes of Crystal Palace, West Ham and Portsmouth as well as the mild-mannered way he goes about his business. His coolness and calm approach will be handy in this pressure-cooker situation.
“I don't feel nervous,” he said. “I'm looking forward to it. It's a great challenge. My main focus is on these boys and getting a positive result. We need to do what we need to do in the last two games and set up and be as effective as we can be. I want them to be focused, disciplined and to work hard to go out and get a positive result.”
