Humiliation. This wasn't a manager's typical post-match lament, a version of which we hear weekly up and down the county; one of mere disappointment with his players; frustration with officials; or the attribution of defeat to ill-fortune. This was something different after the West Ham manager had witnessed his team sleep-walk to ignominy.

Regardless of events at Upton Park in yesterday's FA Cup tie, what happened at the Madejski Stadium on Monday were a salutory warning to all those sportsmen inebriated by transient success; those who have been brushed with the paintwork of greatness, and believed that reputations thus created can never be chipped or damaged without great protective care. It reaffirmed that though the Premiership is, indeed, the domicile of the lustrous talent of Cristiano Ronaldo and others, it is no haven for what Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson would refer to as "the Billy Big-timers".

Though Curbishley's demeanour conveyed many emotions afterwards, it was embarrassment and raw anger which combined to produce what amounted to a ridicule of his players; not just by comparing them directly with the opposition, but in terms footballers fully understand. "They want to be in the Premiership, " he said of the host team. "They want to drive the Baby Bentleys".

No, most of us at the Madejski Stadium on Monday afternoon, in the aftermath of West Ham's six-goal reverse, weren't immediately familiar with that ostentatious display of a footballer's progress, either.

Baby Bentley? A Middle-aged Mondeo, maybe. We're hardly in the market for what transpired to be a £110,000 Continental GT Coupe which boasts what the blurb describes as "phenomenal power" and "class-leading performance". In essence, the antithesis of what Curbishley's men offered.

You don't often get a whole team suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder at set-pieces. It wasn't just the craven nature of the defeat but the fact that Curbishley's only ambition in the second half was to "stop it from being eight".

True, last season Arsenal put seven past Middlesbrough, but then at least Steve McClaren's side were overwhelmed by the Thierry Henry-inspired class of the Gunners.

Here, you suspected it was the wrong team to meet at the wrong time. Perhaps against aristocrats, the Hammers would have raised their game. But against opposition containing Arsenal cast-offs and arrivistes from the lower leagues, they simply faded and died.

Or, as the Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun, reflected with brutal honesty: "we played like drunks".

Viewed positively, it may just have been the reveille the Londoners required. A fixture that could have easily receded into anonymity may have become a defining moment in West Ham's season.

Yet, even as Curbishley set out, prepared to outlay new chairman Eggert Magnusson's reported £20 millionplus on reinforcements - with Fulham captain Luis Boa Morte the first arrival - the manager would have been mindful that his team need to win possibly half their remaining matches to preserve their status.

Last year at this time, Dean Ashton was the catalyst for an FA Cup sequence which culminated at the Millennium Stadium. This year, Curbishley requires characters, strong of heart, with a disposition for battle, to deny the siren call of the Football League Championship.

As the manager declared, the Premiership is "unforgiving", adding:

"Some of those players have only done one and a bit years. You need six years (a passing nod to his former club Charlton's presence amongst the elite) before you call yourself a Premiership player."

Instead heads were turned. An opentopped bus ride? For finishing ninth, and being (albeit gallant) FA Cup losers? For some, like captain Nigel Reo-Coker, it was followed by flirtation with an international call-up and links with Manchester United. For others, flirtation with Page 3 models was enough to confirm that they had arrived.

In fact, their journey had only just begun. As Curbishley suspected from the start, the Hammers overachieved last season, and by some measure. Self-belief propelled them as far as it did. But in doing so, some egos became saturated. That is inevitably a dangerous condition.

Too many players have been embracing the dream while failing to appreciate the unrelenting demands of continued Premiership existence. As West Ham began what is acknowledged as the most vulnerable season, they were back-sliding as they continued to relish the back-slapping.

Yet, there remains outside admiration for their players' quality; of men like Benayoun, Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand and goalkeeper Robert Green.

Recently, I asked Stuart Pearce about Alan Pardew's bequest of personnel to Curbishley. "I would take at least eight of those players to come and work here, " enthused the Manchester City manager.

From that perspective, hope persists.

West Ham will always be a charismatic name, capable of enticing gifted performers. The self-styled "Academy" of football has produced fine players for generations. But the club, and its players, need to be reminded that the Premiership has no respect for history or reputations.

Curbishley suggested that his counterpart Steve Coppell may have to beware a similar occurrence of "secondseason syndrome". Not a chance. When someone attempted to entice a "Nicky Shorey for England" line out of the stone-faced manager, there was a terse response. "He has recognition, " Coppell said of his admirable left-back. "He plays for us every week -- and that's all he needs."

A few West Ham players may have benefited from a similar dose of realism last summer.