WEST HAM boss Gianfranco Zola recognises that his team have plenty of work to do if they are to ever compete with the 'Big Four', after seeing his team dismantled by an efficient Liverpool side at the weekend.

The Italian manager admitted he was looking to make 'a statement' during the match, to prove how far his players have come, but he accepted that they have a long way to go before they can consider themselves genuine threats to the Champions League places.

“We said that the gap between the top four or five teams and the others was huge. So for teams like us who want to get on to that level, it is going to be hard,” he said. “We need to work hard, but as I said the way the team played in the first half was encouraging. Obviously we need a bit more quality in the last third and then maybe we can match teams like these.

“Of course, I wanted to do that (make a statement), but unfortunately the result was not with us, but the performance was encouraging to us.

“Every time it is a lesson for me and today yes, because sometimes it is not enough to play better than them, or as well as them, you need something extra, so we will be working hard on that.”

Zola saw Steven Gerrard take the game away from his side with a second minute strike, before tapping in after seeing his penalty blocked back into his path, while Ryan Babel capped it off with a late goal.

That said, the Hammers matched their opponents for much of the game, although Zola realises that it is that cutting edge which sets the top sides apart from the rest.

“In the first half was very encouraging, we were not much less than them. The difference was Gerrard got two chances and scored two goals.

“We are a team that creates a lot of chances but doesn’t score as many as it creates.

“We will try to fill that gap, but when it is going to be I don’t know, but I’m sure we are going to get there (the top four), trust me.”