Robert Green has admitted he is frustrated that the international break has stalled West Ham's attempts to escape relegation.
Green, who made his England debut under Sven Goran Eriksson but has yet to feature for Steve McClaren, says the players are all keeping themselves fit, but feels the absence of the club's international players is damaging preparations for Saturday's game against Middlesbrough.
"It has put paid to preparations for the Middlesbrough game in some respects, but that happens in football," he said.
"At the moment, we are just training and working hard. It is a strange situation where we have still got 15 or 16 players here, but we cannot really do too much with Middlesbrough in mind without the others, so we are training to keep fit and to keep on top of things.
"But I think we would all much rather be playing games at the moment." West Ham won 2-1 against Blackburn in their last match, handing them their first league victory since Alan Curbishley's opening game against Manchester United in mid-December.
That win meant The Hammers are now eight points adrift of safety, and Green is keen to build some momentum.
"When you are in good form, you want the games to come quickly and you want to keep the run going," he told the club's official website.
"Hopefully we will get a run together this Saturday - and we need to, so it gives us a chance of survival."
goes for other clubs as well esp big clubs with a lot of players going for duties
even worse for clubs who went out of fa cup early.....one or two match in three weeks