Tottenham v West Ham: Tim Sherwood calls for immediate response following departure of Andre Villas-Boas
Spurs entertain the Hammers in the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup
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Your support makes all the difference.Tim Sherwood hopes to have a swift impact on managerless Tottenham and avenge the disappointing loss to West Ham when the teams meet in Wednesday's Capital One Cup quarter-final at White Hart Lane.
Interim boss Sherwood takes charge for the first time bidding to banish the memory of recent performances and show he is a long-term candidate to succeed Andre Villas-Boas.
The former Spurs captain is eager for his side to show their quality against the Hammers, who beat Spurs 3-0 in the Premier League in October in one of a number of results which resulted in Villas-Boas' sacking on Monday, a day after the 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool.
"When you lose your manager it's a change and you've got to listen to a different voice, but I'm hoping to get a few messages across in a short space of time so we can get a positive result against West Ham," Sherwood told Spurs TV.
"It's a huge game, especially on the back of what they did to us at the Lane. It was disappointing.
"We have to get out there on the front foot and we have to impose ourselves on them as soon as we can during the game."
Sherwood, who is already on the coaching staff at White Hart Lane, is to take charge of Spurs in an interim role which could be extended for a longer period depending on the club's search for a permanent successor.
Former England bosses Fabio Capello, Glenn Hoddle and Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino have emerged as contenders for the position.
Sherwood must instantly add steel to the style at Spurs to placate a club hierarchy frustrated at recent results following a £100million summer outlay, financed in no small part due to the world-record sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.
It is six matches since Spurs kept a clean sheet at home, against Hull, in a controversial win which was followed by a League Cup penalty shootout triumph against the same opposition to set up the Hammers' duel in the last eight.
After a 6-0 loss at Manchester City, Villas-Boas' former mentor-turned-adversary Jose Mourinho insisted Spurs were still title contenders and that losing one match by such a margin was preferable to losing six matches 1-0.
It appeared the momentum was turning, with Spurs winning four of their five games, while also drawing with Manchester United, prior to the Liverpool loss.
The Hammers have just two wins in 10 matches in all competitions since the win at Spurs and are languishing near the foot of the Premier League, with Sam Allardyce's position precarious.
Sherwood hopes the Hammers will be distracted by the need to preserve their top-flight status when they visit, but knows the threat is clear following the reverse on October 6.
"Hopefully they've got their concentration on Premier League safety rather than the cup tomorrow night," he added.
"We have to be patient. They got bodies behind the ball and tried to catch us on the counter-attack.
"We're aware of that. Let's just hope we can impose ourselves on them nice and early, get the crowd behind us and really be up and at them."
Tottenham are without captain Michael Dawson and midfielders Paulinho and Sandro.
Paulinho misses the first of three matches for his dismissal against Liverpool, while Dawson is banned for one match and Sandro is expected to be out for around a week with a calf injury.
Danny Rose (toe), Christian Eriksen (ankle), Vlad Chiriches (knee) and Younes Kaboul (thigh) could all return, but defender Jan Vertonghen (ankle) is out.
Sherwood knows his options are limited, but maintains Tottenham have enough quality to prevail.
He added: "In defensive areas we're quite light, but it's up to those boys to step up to the mark and perform well for the club and for themselves.
"We'll just crack on with what else we've got. It aint a bad team."
Meanwhile, Tottenham moved to remind supporters that bad behaviour will not be tolerated at a fixture which has a history of transgressions from the terraces.
PA
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