Glenn's Four-sight

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Glenn Roeder is looking to break the season's 'record' by going one better than the three wins on the trot his side has achieved twice now.

And for Glenn, there would be no better place to make it four in a row than in the back yard of one of only three sides to win at Upton Park in the league this campaign.

"Normally speaking if you win three on the trot it means you have won one of those away from home, which we did at Fulham - but have not done enough this year," he says.

"It was certainly nice to get a win on our travels and with three more away games to go we'd like to think we can pick up a few more points in these last three away games.

"We certainly want to get something from this match, having lost the match 1-0 at Upton Park; pride was hurt, but on the day the lads did as well as they could.

"If I remember correctly we had four of what we would consider our first team regulars missing, and Steve Lomas, after making one successful return after his knee injury, that had kept him out the best part of the year, then had his toe broken when Steffen Freund stepped on his foot - accidentally, I might add."

Glenn expects an entertaining match, adding:

"This is a fixture down the years that conjures up the idea of entertaining football because both clubs have got a tradition of playing the game the right way, the way that entertains supporters.

"But on top of that both sets of fans expect their team to win, which is the right attitude as well; I don't see why it will not be an entertaining match.

"I certainly like to see it being played in an entertaining manner, fully respectful of making it a winning manner as well, and Glenn Hoddle is certainly the same animal; he likes it to be played a certain traditional way, which the Tottenham fans expect.

"But from our point of view we are looking to take all three points, as they did off us earlier in the season at Upton Park."

If fans of both sides may not be the best of friends on a match day, Glenn and opposite number Glen Hoddle, not to mention his assistant John Gorman, do keep in touch.

Until this week, that is, and Glenn reveals:

"All lines of communication were broken off from Glenn and particularly John Gorman - who I keep in touch with on a regular basis - last Friday; we decided to give each other a miss this week, which we have done."

None of which tempers the gratitude Glenn has to the pair for introducing him to the England set up when they were in charge.

Says the Hammers boss:

"I am ever so grateful to Glenn and John Gorman, and always will be; they are a team, and have worked together many times at different clubs, and with England.

"First of all they gave me a scouting role with England, and I impressed them hopefully with the work I did enough for them to offer me a coaching job part time.

"It was a great insight into working with the best players England had to offer - it is an experience I shall never forget and one I will always be thankful to Glenn and John for - but not so grateful that I won't want to win on Saturday!

"Without a doubt the experience has helped me here, and it is one that realise that I wanted to try and work at the very highest level in terms of coaching.

"It made me not want to apply for jobs at management level in the second and third division because, as much as I think the lads down there are terrific, wear their hearts on their sleeve and give you everything, having worked with England players I took the purely personal view that I would rather coach at Premiership level if I could find a job, and work with players of the very highest quality - and I was very fortunate to land a coaching role at West Ham, to that end."

The experience gained made life easier for Glenn when he took the West Ham post and found himself face to face with West Ham's collection of superstars for his first training session since taking over.

"When we go through the squad when we are all fully fit, it is a squad made up of many internationals; and I still think we have got, in Fredi, a player that will one day play for France," says Glenn.

Now, it is a case of finishing with a flourish after getting into seventh place, and Glenn says:

"It was certainly a very pleasing Easter and we continued the good results with a good win over Charlton, who are very difficult to beat, and have one of the best away records in the Premiership this year.

"We found it difficult to break them down, but fortunately we did twice via a penalty and probably as good a goal as we have scored this year.

"David James threw the ball out to Joe from one end to the other there were two or three passes and it was in the back of the net, which is really what you like to think is a typical West Ham goal.

"They created a few chances as well and we needed David to be at his best, and I suppose when Konchesky knocked the penalty over the bar it was never going to be their day.

"It is the second time this year we have won three games on the trot and we will be doing our absolute very best to keep the run going in what will be a highly charged atmosphere at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

"I think it is very important that we finish the season well; quite often a team that finishes a season well goes on to start the next one in good fashion - it seems to go hand in hand.

"You don't want a poor finish to the season because it leads to a bad taste and a bad memory when you all come back for preseason training.

"The atmosphere at Chadwell Heath is brilliant at the moment, and I want that maintained right to the last game against Bolton; as the manager of the club I have a massive role to play to keep the players' eye on the ball.

"I think what has pulled us through earlier in the season is the fact that the work place has been a place where the players want to come in and train, even after some poor results earlier in the season, particularly away from home.

"I am very conscious of the heads not going down after a defeat, and reminding people to focus on the next game, not wanting to have miserable people around me.

"The players always responded to that sort of talking and even in our few low points this year, although they weren't always smiling faces there weren't miserable faces, and we knuckled down, worked hard, and kept believing that we could turn things round.

"I think to an extent we have done that but we are certainly not resting on our laurels; there is nothing to rest on.

"We need to stay very, very, focused to gather as many points as we can this year."