United hit Hammers for six

Manchester Utd 6 West Ham 0

Roeder's position was left hanging by the thinnest of threads after an

abject display, almost completely lacking in fight and commitment.

The Hammers' defence came in for particular criticism and Roeder admitted he was seething with anger long before the end.

"It was not acceptable," he said. "We had players who didn't fight as hard as we would have expected and that should be the easy bit. The first 15 minutes of the second half was abysmal and we've let the fans down.

"My position is not helped by each defeat but I have never been a person who would give in to anything and I am not thinking about walking away.

"For all the disappointments we have had this season this was the first time I could accuse a number of my players of not fighting all the way through to the end, but I could point the finger at a few today."

Roeder was at least buoyed by a post-match meeting with Alex Ferguson in which the Scot, who came through his own crisis period early in his Old Trafford reign to become the most successful manager the club has ever had.

"I am a good listener and what he had to say will give me encouragement," he said. "What we spoke about will remain private but the basis of it was to hang in there and guts it out."

With Paolo di Canio, Freddie Kanoute and Les Ferdinand all set to return for Wednesday's vital league clash with Blackburn, Roeder is promising big changes which could include a couple of defensive signings who are due to trial with the club

today. West Ham briefly rallied after Ryan Giggs had grabbed a first-half double but their hopes were cruelly smashed straight after the interval when United struck three times in 10 minutes.

Phil Neville netted his first FA Cup goal for the club either side of a Ruud van Nistelrooy brace, substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wrapping up the rampant Red Devils' biggest FA Cup win since 1970.

Ferguson was particularly pleased for Giggs, who has come through an inconsistent spell and was scoring his first Old Trafford goals since October.

"Players have spells where they lack confidence, it is only human," said Ferguson.

"Ryan came back at Blackburn on Wednesday and did exceptionally well. He worked very hard today and the bonus was he got himself a couple of goals.

"Overall, it was a good performance. The two quick goals after half time killed the tie, allowed me to make a couple of substitutions and save their legs."

With a Worthington Cup final berth already assured, United's progress to an unprecedented trophy quadruple

continues.

The fixture backlog which is bound to follow will stretch even Old

Trafford's vast resources.

But with Nicky Butt now coming back to full fitness and Quinton

Fortune almost ready to return from his broken leg, Ferguson believes he has the squad to cope, even if he is

refusing to consider the potential

of such an historic achievement.

"We have enough bodies to compete," he said. "Nicky Butt is coming back, Quinton should be back in three weeks at the most. That gives us a good squad and we have some younger players to add to it so we are okay in that sense.

"We have always viewed the FA Cup as an important trophy and we will be doing our best to go further in it."

MAN UTD: Barthez, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Phil Neville, Beckham (Solskjaer 63), Veron (Butt 51), Keane, Giggs, Scholes (Forlan 45), van Nistelrooy.

WEST HAM: James, Lomas, Breen (Dailly 80), Pearce, Minto, Bowyer, Cisse (Garcia 80), Carrick, Sinclair (Johnson 80), Defoe, Cole.