Big Sam was in top form tonight as he reflected on the performance of the season so far following his side's defeat of the reigning league champions. His full post match, press conference exclusively in full here...
Sam: You've beaten two of the clubs who finished in the top four last season. Was this more satisfying than the Liverpool victory?
The Liverpool victory was fantastic from the point of view that I don't think anybody expected Liverpool to be quite as ineffective as they've been this season. They've not hit the heights they did last season so perhaps this victory's a little better than that.
They've got two of the most dangerous goalscorers in Europe with Dzeko and Aguero. Dzeko goes quietly about his job and has scored 45 goals in his time at Manchester City whilst Aguero's scored 61. They're in the top ten in Europe for scoring goals per minute, I just saw that on the telly before we started.
That can bring some fears before the game but our defensive lads today marshalled that [threat] particularly well and that gave us a base to go on and get the victory.
We have goalscorers, we have players who believe they're going to score - none more so that Sakho, who scored again. We had a terrific performance today, that was the big thing for me. It wasn't a lucky victory, it was a well-deserved victory.
We made some outstanding chances and we took Man City's back four to task and, in my opinion, it didn't hold up. It didn't hold up because of the quality of our play in their final third is why we won the game today.
It had everything that performance, didn't it?
Yes, it had great determination, quality, desire, everything you want in amounts. One or two moments where the game is on the edge but the Premier League is so exciting because of the amount of activity in both penalty areas today. It went from end to end and that's why I think it's such a great product and such a great brand, this league. Gladly, we've come out on top today and it's a massive victory and a massive statement from us as a team and a football club. We should all be very proud of ourselves this weekend.
A word about Alex Song, he was outstanding today?
He's been in the shadows a little bit because of Valencia and Sakho but this lad has outstanding quality. He goes alongside Fernando Hierro and Jay Jay Okocha in my teams before. He's prompt with his passing and his protection to the back players is excellent.
Every man played his best today, that's the beauty. Every man went out their and gave their all, played their very best and got the victory that I don't think too many people were expecting today. So well done them, a fantastic result and a fantastic run we're on at the minute. We'll all meet up again next week and get started for Stoke away.
Were there any complaints about the challenge in the first half? Mark Noble seemed to be on the edge of a two-footed one.
Yes, he was complaining bitterly about it. We all had a look at it, you can make your own mind up. For me it's a very dangerous tackle and Martin [Atkinson] was right in front of it but I'm not going to talk about referee's decisions when we've played so well and won the game. None of his decisions affected the result today which is very important. That can easily be done.
It was a pretty difficult game to manage because of the commitment of both sets of players but obviously at the end of it we've managed to come out on top. Even when they produced the outstanding quality they've got with [David] Silva we still won the game and that was the beauty of getting the second goal when we did.
Going back to Song, is it days like this in such a high-profile, high-intensity game that you get to see the best of him?
Absolutely. Quality players look forward to the big games whereas sometime the less qualified players can get a little anxious and think oh, look who I'm playing against today. But Songy led us as a team today and the rest of the lads responded to that.
As for Valencia and Sakho, I don't think they really know what they've done yet. I don't really think they know how good they've been. They've just come here and want to play football, and I don't think they realise how big an impact they've made. The rest of the team has been lifted by those two, but also the players who have stayed with me for the last two or three years are playing much better as well.
There were out there today who were new and did excellent jobs today and the sixth was [Chiekhou] Kouyate who came on as a sub and who we're really pleased to have back. The rest of the players who've been with us for a while are playing their best football as well.
A few weeks ago you were very unhappy with a 2-1 scoreline against another Manchester club. I imagine you'll be in a more celebratory mood tonight?
Yes, I am. I'm really delighted that it hasn't knocked us back in terms of confidence that we may have lost by having that goal [at Old Trafford] disallowed. We're not four wins our of five and three on the trot so our response has been brilliant. For me, my big worry is that my leading goalscorer today came off with a shoulder problem at the end so I sincerely hope that damage is not sever and he can recover very quickly. When you've got someone who scores six in six you can ill-afford to lose them at any stage and if we're going to lose him that'll be a big blow.
Saying that, everybody who steps up to the plate today with the injuries that we have has gone out and got a result and gone out and given a great performance so we're in a very good frame of mind and we're in a good mood. It's nice to be able to come in the training ground with everybody smiling and looking forward to training. It's about grasping those moments and making sure we make them last as long as we can.
Do you feel a certain amount of vindication? Because in the dark days you said that when you new signings gel and acclimatise and when people came back from injury that we'd see a different West Ham to what we saw last season.
I don't dwell too much on the past to be honest with you. I think too many people have been talking about the past, even on VT today they asked about last season. It's well documented but I'm still here! I'm doing my job as best I can like I've always done. I've done it for 20 years, 13 in the Premier League.
Gary Neville did us a favour last week with the stats he put up as I didn't realise they were as good as they were so I'm doing ok, you know! There were some dark moments but you've got to get through it.
* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.