Glenn - We Are United

Glenn Roeder insists that nothing will break the strong team spirit that there is at the club - and stresses that it is survival of West Ham, not any individuals at the club, that is his only concern.

Following a second win on the trot in the Premiership, and the build-up to trying to make it the first hat-trick of consecutive wins of the season at Everton a week on Saturday, he says: "Saturday was about the players that were in the team, played the game, and won the points - that's all.

"It was about nobody else other than the players that took part on at the weekend.

Clarifying the position regarding Paolo Di Canio, Glenn explains: "Paolo returned to Italy on Sunday morning for a week to have tests on his knee and, as everyone knows, it has been booked for a long time.

"We will see him next Monday at Chadwell Heath."

Naturally, though, it is the bigger picture that concerns Glenn the most, however much he is keeping an eye on the fitness and welfare of the players that make up the unit, and he adds: "It was a team performance on Saturday, and everything I will be talking about in the next nine games is the team.

"We are not singling out anybody; it is a team game, and the players themselves see it that way as well.

"They don't want to be talked about as individuals, they want to be talked about in terms of what the team does.

"We are a very tight circle, and we don't want anyone to be breaking the tightness in that circle by wanting to be individualistic.

"We all get the same result and the important thing is that all those players in the squad on Saturday are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the team.

"Every one of them, when we have spoken in team meetings about it, are all prepared to sacrifice themselves for the team, and that sometimes means playing out of position and sometimes might mean not playing at all.

"It might mean coming on from the subs' bench, and no one wants to play more than Don Hutchison at the moment - but he accepts that at the minute he is having to get his match fitness from the subs' bench.

"Don is showing a good attitude, as is Edouard Cisse - who would rather be starting games, then there is Gary Breen...I could go on.

"The squad of players involved on Saturday, and I include those not on the bench, plus the likes of Fredi Kanoute and Nigel Winterburn, has a real camaraderie and team spirit.

"They made a statement of intent with their performance on Saturday against Spurs and that is how it has got to be. With every game we go into the team must come first and nothing other than the team counts.

"We won't have individual players thinking that they are more important and we are very fortunate that the squad on Saturday, Nigel Winterburn, and Fredi, don't think that way.

"Edouard has shown a fantastic mentality; it must be difficult when you come over to play in another country and want to play all the time - it makes it harder when you don't.

"But he played in the reserves last week, as he is this, and showed lots of character.

"Fredi is very annoyed with himself at being sent off against Leeds and is working his socks off in training, so that if he plays against Sunderland he is going to be match fit and highly motivated for what will be the remaining eight games.

"That is important and you are looking at that squad that was available to us on Saturday, plus Kanoute, plus Winterburn; there are no selfish players in there - they are all team players.

"As individuals they are excellent but they want to get behind the banner of being a good team, and very much what the third word in our name is - United.

"We need to be united, the squad, everyone from the top of the club, the chairman, all the way down to everyone that works at the football club and all our supporters.

"It is a big boat we are all in, but we are all in the same boat and we don't want anyone even thinking about rowing off in the other direction - because they won't achieve anything."

Managers are rarely totally satisfied with even winning performances, and Glenn is no exception, but he is moved to say: "We showed desire, heart, and a lot of ability as well. We played, in many respects, a perfect game.

"We started the game in an extremely positive fashion with lots of desire and players standing up, looking their opponent in the face, and coming out on top against the player opposite them."