BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | West Ham Utd



By Simon Austin BBC Sport Online

West Ham boss Glenn Roeder
Roeder is facing mounting pressure

Veteran defender Nigel Winterburn insists West Ham's players are united in their support for under-fire manager Glenn Roeder.

The Hammers were beaten 4-3 at home by Leeds on Sunday, increasing speculation that Roeder will soon be out of a job.

But Winterburn, 38, says he and his team-mates are firmly behind their manager and are determined to improve results for him.

"You only have to look at the game against Leeds to see that the players are behind Glenn," he told BBC Sport Online.

"We were 4-1 down at half-time and could have been beaten by seven or eight but we fought back.

We've got a good set of players and proved what we could do by finishing high up the league last season

Winterburn on Roeder

"The players are behind Glenn and determined to stop all the speculation about him.

"He's a very honest man, who is excellent tactically and works hard on the training pitch.

"I just hope he gets enough time to turn it around - which I have no doubt he can."

Winterburn admitted he was bewildered that a Hammers side that finished seventh in the Premiership last season was struggling so much this time around.

"We've got a good set of players and proved what we could do by finishing high up the league last season.

"The thing that's different this year is that we've made a lot of individual mistakes.

"If you do that, it doesn't matter if you are West Ham or Manchester United, you are going to struggle."

But the former Arsenal defender thinks the second-half comeback against Leeds could prove a turning point in West Ham's season.

"We were excellent and if we can play like that more consistently, we will soon climb the league," he said.

"I think the crowd appreciated the hard work we put in in the second half. We rightly got booed off at half-time, but they were behind us at the end."