'We could not afford to drop points today'
On the result…
“It is a big win for us because if we had come out of it with a frustrating 0-0 draw, we would have felt that we had wasted an opportunity to get closer to the top.
“For us it was important not to make a mistake and to take one of our own chances. We gambled a lot and fortunately we had some strikers on the bench and in the end that made the difference.
“We knew before the game that we couldn’t afford to drop points today but I must say that West Ham can feel frustrated because they defended very well and gave absolutely everything today. In the end we got a little opening, maybe they got a little bit fatigued in the last 20 minutes.”
On the fear that it could have been ‘one of those days’…
“It could have been. West Ham decided to frustrate us by defending very deep. They protected the centre very well and I thought in the first half they we tried to go through the middle a little too much. We needed to stretch their defenders in the final third. On some occasions we did that better in the second half.”
On West Ham’s penalty claims…
“Maybe for the deflected hand-ball in the last five minutes but I did not see the other one. It was a guy who was protecting himself when it hit him. I felt that their keeper was outside the box in the first half and they could have been playing with 10 men.”
On Robert Green’s heroics…
“He always has the game of his life when he plays against us. And he repeats that every year.”
On Adebayor's impact...
“What is fantastic is that he is a regular starter in my team and he fights very hard. Today he came on with 25 minutes to go and fought for every ball. That is more than any speech I can make. We have a great spirit in the side and we have great quality. We are of course very determined to come back to the top. If you look at the results against Fulham and Hull and you see where we are it is quite positive.”
On there being more to come from Theo Walcott…
“At 19 years of age I hope so. There is already a lot there but of course there is a lot more to come. We have all been 19, we were not all better at 21, but he will be better. “
On the prospect of facing Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham…
“It was a surprise for me to see him move from Portsmouth to Tottenham in October but football is full of surprises.”
