Glenn: Pressure In Perspective

Glenn Roeder says that EVERY game until the end of the season is a pressure match.

"Because Bolton are the team above us it certainly adds more pressure on ourselves to win the game, and as Sam has said it is probably the biggest game since he has been at Bolton," he admits.

"But every game, between now and the end of the season against Birmingham, is going to be a big game.

"We have got a lot of confidence and belief that we will pull out of the situation we are in, but as I have always said, talk is cheap and the action needs to start.

"The disappointing thing for us as a group of people just lately is that at times the performances have been better at times than when we have been winning - and that has become very frustrating.

"Players are not silly and they know when there have been games that deserved a victory - and it hasn't come.

"The ones freshest in the mind are Southampton and Middlesbrough; we should have taken five more points there and that would have made a huge difference from the one we did get.

"You have to take it squarely on the chin but football is a very cruel game.

"The players really have done enough to pick up more points in the last four or five weeks but it hasn't happened.

"We have created enough chances in recent games to win them, but I would defy anyone to put their finger on exactly why it is not happening."

As for Don Hutchison's inclusion in the squad this weekend, Glenn adds:

"Don looked a lot sharper in the reserve game this week to the extent where, hopefully, I can use him over Christmas in some shape or form, which is good news for us."

Glenn is determined to put the club's position into perspective, however, and he took a quartet of players to the Richard House children's hospice for a visit on Friday.

"I got a big response from the players when I asked who wanted to come," he says.

"I reminded them how lucky we are that our kids are fit and healthy - and I got plenty of volunteers.

"There are people dying in this world, so I wouldn't say that being bottom of the table would ruin my Christmas.

"A visit to some children who might not be here next year, is the type of thing which can ruin someone's Christmas, that of the parents.

"It is good for the soul to visit these hospices; we all fly around like lunatics, but we need to take a rain check sometimes and have a look at what else is going on in the world.

"It might give some sense of proportion to what we are all doing; it still doesn't mean we should forget these kids and it makes you feel better about yourself, though."