Carlton Cole has called on West Ham to get "ugly" to drag themselves off the bottom of the Barclays Premier League.
The Hammers have collected just one win from 14 matches and are in a real battle to maintain their top-flight status.
Indeed, the Upton Park board have designated Saturday's home clash against fellow strugglers Wigan as the 'save our season game', with reduced admission prices to help ensure a bumper crowd.
Manager Avram Grant appears, for now at least, to have the support of owners David Gold and David Sullivan, with the Israeli insisting if his team continue to play good football, then the results will follow.
Cole, though, believes the situation demands doing anything and everything to get maximum points.
"We have tried to play pretty football, but now I think we just need to play ugly football," the England striker said, quoted on the club's official website, www.whufc.com.
"I see it working for other teams in the top half of the league."
Cole added: "We need to work harder, give 100% in training and it starts there. If training is sharp, we will get into good habits and be sharp in matches.
"That is where everyone needs to ask more from themselves, because training is really important.
"We all need to get on that training field and the pace has got to be up."
Some beleaguered Irons fans certainly let their frustrations be known at the final whistle of the last home game following another disappointing goalless draw against Blackburn, with calls for Grant, who only arrived in the summer, to be dismissed.
Cole accepts it is the player's responsibility to earn the supporters praise.
"If we are playing well, the fans will be on our side. If we're not playing well, we don't deserve the fans to be on our side. That's how it is," he said.
"The West Ham fans are passionate. They know what they want to see. We shouldn't be in the position we are in - everyone needs to pull in the same direction."
