WEST Ham boss Alan Curbishley has told his players to stop giving away early goals, starting at Sunderland tomorrow.

The Irons have conceded a goal inside the opening 20 minutes in each of their last five games.

In those fixtures they suffered consecutive 4-0 defeats against Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs, before having to come from behind to beat Blackburn and then draw at Everton.

Now Curbishley (pictured) wants his team to turn the tables and instead put their opponents on the back foot.

"It would be nice for us to go into the lead, because we've had to come back in the last two games, and see what happens then," he said ahead of his side's trip to the Stadium of Light.

"Certainly, I know in the last five games we've gone one down early in them and against Spurs two down.

"We said up at Everton Can we be nice and solid for the first 10 or 15 minutes' only to find ourselves one down again.

"So it is something we've been talking about and hoping to improve on."

Until the results this month, the Hammers had one of the best defensive records in the Premier League.

That has all gone out of the window and Curbishley observed that his back line have struggled to deal with the unfamiliar position of being behind in matches.

"The back-five has been quite consistent in team selection and have had something to hold on to until the last month or so," he said.

"We've give them something to get their teeth into but in the last month we've been behind, which has been a bit difficult for us."

He now wants them to rediscover that previously solid core against the Black Cats, adding: "It would be nice if we could change it around on Saturday."