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On the eve of the clash with Manchester United Fredi Kanoute says that Laurent Blanc's critics are completely missing the point.
As he prepares to do battle with him at Upton Park on Saturday, Fredi insists that the former France international is still worthy of the utmost respect.
"Everybody respects him for what he has done in his career," he says.
" I think I met him once or twice in France for Marseille.
"He is a different player from, say, Sol Campbell, who has got power and strength - I think he is more intelligent.
"His position on the pitch is always good and he thinks a lot about how he is going to get the ball and stop quicker players than him.
"His positioning allows him to stop opponents."
A good performance against the league champions would certainly enhance Fredi's chances of squeezing into the French World Cup squad, but he insists:
"I cannot not think about this; it is always good to play in the World Cup but it is not something I 'stare at'.
"I'm not focusing on it because I want to be involved 100% in the West Ham games - I just want to do my best, and if the World Cup happens it would be good for me, but my priority is to score, to make goals, to play well - that's it."
He wants the Hammers to make a concerted push up the table, and adds:
"I hope we can finish at least in the top eight; we have to have big ambition, but we know we definitely won't be in the top three.
"But we have to finish in the top half and if we finish in the top eight it would be good."
He is happy with how Glenn Roeder is handling things at Upton Park, and says:
"For his first year I think he has done a good job; it has not finished so I can't say if we will finish better or not, but he has changed many things, and in a good way."
As for the constant rumours that follow Fredi around - one newspaper recently put a £12m price tag on his head - Fredi remains unconcerned.
"Actually, I don't read the papers much, and sometimes I don't even know what is supposed to be happening unless someone tells me," he says.
"I don't really care about it because these things are made up; the main thing is to focus on my game - I am involved at West Ham and at the moment I am happy like this at West Ham.
"It is the best quarter of the season coming up!"
As for the hamstring problems that have prevented him from playing several games this season, he says:
"Hopefully the injuries are over because there are only 10 games left, and I hope to play in all of them. "I can train correctly, and there are no problems about that."
And, assessing the campaign thus far, he adds:
"I'm half happy; the games at home have been okay but we haven't done very well as a team and we have to improve that.
"There are many reasons and I don't know all of them; what I do know is we don't play exactly the same way home and away and we need to be more confident away and play as if we were at home.
"At home everybody enjoys the game and we feel a different atmosphere and every player wants to help out the others from difficulty.
"Maybe when we play away we are a little more afraid of losing, so we lose."
But he feels that the team deserved a point at Aston Villa recently, and adds:
"We were quite unlucky; it is not just a case of playing badly away, sometimes we are not lucky.
"We have played well - at Aston Villa it was not too bad - but this is how it is."
And he hits back at those he say he was not totally ill for the Villa game which he missed, insisting:
"At Aston Villa I had the flu and I had no strength, and I didn't want to play badly in such an important game, it is better to make someone play who is really fit."
Fredi missed the win at Old Trafford earlier in the season, and hopes to make amends for the home fixture. "I was injured for that one but they did a great job over there; unfortunately tomorrow won't be the same, and we will have to work very hard to win it because it won't come very easy.
"It is a big game and we can't wait to play it; I have always loved to play that kind of game, it is always exciting at home.
"We must definitely not lose it; we have won almost every game at home, even against the big teams."
Fredi has mixed memories of playing against Manchester United; his second game since arriving in England was the 7-1 defeat at Old trafford two years ago, and he recalls:
"It was the biggest stadium I had played in and I looked forward to the game, but once it started they just kept scoring after Paolo Wanchope scored first.
"But winning last year in the FA Cup last season was, of course, was one of the the best moments of my career so far."