Joe Hart hailed the fighting spirit in the West Ham United squad after Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Swansea City.
While the goalkeeper said the Hammers were ‘relieved’ to achieve their second top-flight win of the season, courtesy of substitute Diafra Sakho’s 90th-minute goal, he was also honest enough to admit that they did not produce their best at London Stadium.
But, having kept three clean sheets in his last four top-flight appearances, Hart says there are foundations on which to build when he and his teammates return to action after the international break.
“We’re relieved, of course we are,” Hart began. “It was a difficult game and a strange game and it’s not going to get a lot of air-time, understandably.
“It was important that we stuck together as a group. It was a difficult atmosphere, but we stuck at it and got an important win.
“We’ve just got to focus on the win. We’ve picked up seven points since the last international break with two wins, a draw and a loss, which is good. We stuck together as a group of players and staff and hopefully the fans have gone home happy, but it’s a difficult one to assess.
“The one thing I can’t criticise is the team’s effort. It was not quality, I was not high quality today, but the effort was there. We’re not quite doing it at the moment, but hopefully it’ll come if we all stick together as a group and we’re going to pick up wins.
“We’ve not been fluid all year, but we’re searching and working hard. Confidence is huge in football. If you’re going to us [my England teammate] Harry [Kane] as an example, he’s scored goals and now there’s no stopping the guy.
“The only way we’re going to get more confident is if we pick up wins, we stick together as a team and we keep clean sheets and move forward.”
Hart saved his praise for substitutes Sakho, Manuel Lanzini and Arthur Masuaku, who combined superbly in the 90th minute to secure a morale-boosting victory for their team.
“We stick together, we train hard and fight for each other and we fought on Saturday,” the goalkeeper continued. “We didn’t play particularly well, but we fought.
“The changes were brilliant. Arthur came on and changed the game for us, it was good to have Manuel Lanzini back and you can’t ask for much more than what Diaf gave us.
“It’s been difficult for him after the issues he had at the end of the transfer window, but he’s come in, he’s scored goals in the Carabao Cup and when he got his chance, he won us the game. A lot of praise should go to him, because he has settled a very nervy affair and sent a lot of people into the international break feeling happy.”