James Tomkins has revealed how he loves playing under Slaven Bilic.
In a wide ranging interview – reproduced here the central defender discusses life under manager Slaven Bilic – the FA Cup prospects and much more.
He kicks off by telling reporter Matt Lawless (seen above with Tonks): “Slaven is a really good with man-management. He’s somebody who you can always go to if you feel like you need to talk to him about anything be it about things on are off the field. He’s very approachable.
“To be honest, you want to work for him and you want to do the best for him. You want to do everything the best you can anyway, but having a manager like that gives you an extra incentive to try a little bit harder.
“Don’t get me wrong he can get angry at half-time if you don’t put in a shift. But that’s what you want. You want someone to go, ‘hold on a minute, we need to liven up here’.
“He picks and chooses the right times to put his arm round you or not. So, for me he’s done really really well.
Tomkins is now fit again after a calf problem and is expected to start at right-back when West Ham host Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime
He said: “I had a few knocks to the head this season but they haven’t really stopped me playing. I’ve got a couple of scars on my head now. I’ve got another one under my eye but it’s not noticeable.
“I was playing right-back as well and you’d think you get that type of injury at centre-half. It’s funny how it works out in a way but they never stopped me from playing.
“Obviously it swelled up but as a defender you expect to get those injuries sometimes. Both times they were quite big cuts. Hopefully it will stop now!
“The calf injury was the only one that did stop me. Obviously, that was frustrating for me.
“But I’m feeling good again. It was great to get a good two weeks of training under my belt and Nobes’ [Mark Noble] testimonial came at a good time for me because I was able to get some minutes there.
“Hopefully I’ll be back involved this Saturday. But the team is doing well.
“We haven’t lost a game in God knows how long, so either way we’ll have a strong team out against Arsenal.”
Turning to FA Cup replay against Manchester United he said: “To say, we’re going to win the cup just yet is premature. We want to get to Wembley first. And if we do, we know that Everton we be a very tough tie.
“But we’re not looking that far at all yet because we know that Man United are going to be tough.
“It will be the last ever FA Cup tie under the lights at Upton Park and so, we want to end that game with a big win.
“For the lads who have come through the ranks, and know that feel for what it means to play at the Boleyn Ground, it means everything. But for all the team, we all understand the emotions. It has been an emotional year for the club.
“So, we really do need to go out on a high and why not turn over Man Utd in the cup? If we can do that and the last home game of the season in May against them too, then it will be a very good end for everyone.
“Firstly, we’re looking forward to playing Arsenal and hopefully beat them. “If we do that it will put us in a confident mode ahead of the FA Cup game next Wednesday.”
James Tomkins was speaking on behalf of West Ham’s principle sponsor Betway’s Academy of Football project. Follow the series at blog.betway.com