Gianfranco Zola was in good spirits ahead of Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers after a challenging week for the club off the field.
The manager was delighted to welcome Alessandro Diamanti after his transfer from AS Livorno Calcio and the 26-year-old forward quickly settled into life at Chadwell Heath. The manager's mood was also boosted by staging a training session that featured a fully involved Luis Jimenez, Mark Noble, Kieron Dyer and Valon Behrami - while Herita Ilunga was on the sidelines getting closer to his return.
Zola said the week's events off the pitch would not get in the way of the bid at Ewood Park to make it two wins out of two on the road. "The only thing is that it was a very tiring game [in the 3-1 win after extra time against Millwall on Tuesday] as we had to a play long game two days after another tiring game against Tottenham Hotspur. We are going to be all right for Saturday."
Diamanti has not travelled to Blackburn, however, but like Behrami and possibly Ilunga he could be involved next time around when the Hammers head to Wigan Athletic on Saturday 12 September. Diamanti, Jimenez and Behrami were already good friends and the trio promise to link up well and provide a continental blend to the English spine coursing through Gianfranco Zola's side.
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One of those English youngsters is Junior Stanislas, who scored twice against Millwall in a match-winning display from the 19-year-old. "He is one of the players I know I can rely on and whenever I play him he will give me something important. He has done very well and I am sure he will be an importat player for this club."
Zola was also upbeat because of the news on Calum Davenport, a week after he was admitted to hospital following an incident that left him needing critical care treatment for stab wounds. "He is out of intensive care, which is very good news so his situation is improving very much," said the manager.
"The next step is to assess what the damage is but the most important thing is that he is in a normal general ward in hospital now. My main concern is to see him in a normal situation and then over the next few days we will see [about his future]. We are not talking about that yet. The most important thing at the moment was to see him safe and stable."
The manager was also full square behind Carlton Cole after allegations he was racially abused during the Carling Cup meeting with Millwall on Tuesday. However, he said the issue was not just a problem for football or for England alone. "I don't think it is a problem only in the English game as we have seen things like that in other parts of the world. It's just down to ignorance.
"People who are racist are not thinking clearly and not considering the whole picture or maybe they have a narrow mind. Racist just means stupidity. It is just not thinking. Everybody is the same really. Different colour or different features does not mean you are different to others."
He also would not accept that the club's standing as a whole would suffer long-term in the wake of the disturbances that have rightly received condemnation. West Ham United have vowed to take the toughest action possible to those found responsible, including life bans.
"We have a lot of wonderful supporters and I don't want to think the image of our supporters is only that. There are lots of positive people around and I am here representing those kind of people, not the ones that were causing all of the problems.
"I want to close the argument with this. We have 35,000 supporters that come every Saturday to watch us and I don't want to think that a few can represent West Ham around the world. We are known for other good things like producing seven players that play for the national team.
"We know that we have good supporters and they follow us week in, week out and they have never caused problems … I take the liberty to say we represent [them]."
Zola added that he was concerned not to pre-judge whatever investigations that will take place with the club, police and Football Association other than to call for the authorities to consider the vast majority over the minority. "We have a lot of wonderful supporters and I will be backing them," he said.