West Ham boss Alan Curbishley feels some sections of the Upton Park faithful need to be more "realistic" - but accepts it is up to him and the team to win every fan over.

The Hammers head across London to Tottenham on Sunday following successive 4-0 defeats, at home to Chelsea and then at Liverpool in midweek.

Curbishley has come under fire for a perceived negative approach recently, packing the midfield and playing with Carlton Cole as a lone striker.

"You can't stop criticism and if West Ham fans are not happy then they let everyone know," said Curbishley, himself a former player at Upton Park.

"That has been the nature over the years, but I haven't got to agree with it.

"Sometimes you have got to be a bit more realistic.

"Performances recently have not been what people wanted, but we have never gone out there negative in any game.

"I think the criticism of 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 is because people look out there, see one forward, and think it's negative, but half the Premier League are playing it - that is teams at the top and at the bottom.

"On a lot of occasions, certainly since we lost [Craig] Bellamy and [Bobby] Zamora, we have only had one forward left anyway.

"So I think you have to take it in context and be a little bit more realistic." However, Curbishley accepted: "If there is criticism about then we have to take that and change it.

"It's up to us to turn it around so that the fans don't criticise.

"The only way we can do that is performances.

"However, there are a lot of the fans who are realistic. They have seen the problems we have had - but that still doesn't stop fans wanting more and we want more.

"We have got to get those results now. We can't just talk about it."