Former West Ham defender Julian Dicks says the players are to blame for the club's poor run, not the manager.
The Hammers have suffered three successive 4-0 defeats piling pressure on boss Alan Curbishley.
But Dicks told BBC London 94.9 that the blame lies elsewhere: "I think Alan is the right man for the job.
"These are all professional footballers, they are earning fortunes, but a lot of them are just going through the motions."
Dicks added: "At the end of the day the manager gets the blame which I think that is wrong. It's down to the players, they're the ones out on the pitch.
"Nowadays people give them (managers) eight months or a year and if they don't do anything then they get rid of them which for me is wrong."
"The players didn't try against Chelsea"
Despite victories against Manchester United and Liverpool at Upton Park in recent months, West Ham have capitulated to Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham in their last three matches.
The Hammers' board offered their backing to Curbishley on Monday, and Dicks believes the focus should instead be on the players.
Dicks added: "I watched them against Manchester United and they deserved to beat them. I watched them against Liverpool and they deserved to beat them too.
"Obviously the last three matches have been disappointing, but I was at the Chelsea game and I think fans can appreciate players having bad days and off games but they can't appreciate players not trying.
"Apart from (Mark) Noble and the keeper (Rob Green), the players didn't try against Chelsea.
"I think Alan Curbishley is the right man for the job"
"People pay a lot of money to watch the team play and we all have bad days, but it's when people don't try or there's no passion, that's what really gets fans annoyed.
"Alan Curbishley can put his 11 players out if they don't perform then there's not a lot he can do about it in that game. Nine of the players didn't perform (against Chelsea), they didn't work they didn't show any passion whatsoever."
Dicks' former team-mate at Upton Park Slaven Bilic has been linked with taking over at West Ham if Curbishley loses his job.
The Croatian manager is unlikely to be available until after Euro 2008 but Dicks thinks Curbishley should still be in charge at that stage despite criticism about his style of play.
"It's down to the players, they are the ones out on the pitch"
"I think if you get results, I don't care who you are, the fans will come around, but at the end of the day it's down to the players," continued Dicks.
"I played with Slaven, he was a quality player and obviously he's done really well with Croatia but hopefully they'll give Alan quite a bit more time.
"They are tenth in the table, it's not a disastrous season, it's only the last three games that they've performed badly.
"But 12 goals in three games is a lot to concede, but they have Blackburn next and if they can go out, beat them and get two or three results on the spin it'll all be forgotten."
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