James likes mind games

David James is already mapping out a new career for when he hangs up his goalkeeping gloves for West Ham and England – he wants to become a psychologist specialising in criminal behaviour.

James has used his own sports psychologist – Keith Power – ever since he joined the Hammers nearly two years ago, and has become so interested in the science that he fancies having a go himself – but in the field of law rather than sport.

“It is a thoroughly interesting subject,” said James. “Keith used to come in when I was at Aston Villa and he could see I was interested, so when I left he asked if I wanted to carry on with some one-on-one sessions, and I did.

“It was quite fortunate because shortly after I joined West Ham I suffered a serious leg injury and during my rehabilitation I used a lot of his tools and techniques to get through it.

“I have spoken to Keith about following in his footsteps and looked into what qualifications I would need, and I hope to take an Open University course for two or three years.

“My favourite subject is criminal psychology. I am very interested in what makes people tick and with criminals I wonder why they do what they do. It’s an area I’d like to work in at some point in the future.”

James’ confidence and concentration levels have improved so much in recent weeks that he has kept five consecutive clean sheets – three for West Ham and two for England – and is aiming to make it six in the Barclaycard Premiership match at Southampton tomorrow.

Before the run of blanks, which started against Tottenham last month, James’ last clean sheet was in October.

He continued: “The psychology is important but at the end of the day you have to put things into physical practice, and my confidence and concentration has been as a result of the way we have changed our training methods here and that has been carried into games.”

Hammers boss Glenn Roeder is delighted with the form of his entire defence, and believes James is in the kind of form which will give England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson something to think about when David Seaman returns to fitness.

James played his part in England’s 2-0 victory over Turkey on Wednesday, pulling off one particularly impressive save shortly after Eriksson’s men had taken the lead.

“David played his part in a magnificent team performance and the save he made was the equivalent of scoring a goal at the other end,” said Roeder. “He has been given an opportunity and you have to say that in both games he has taken it.

“He has been very patient and sometimes it is not easy to keep yourself motivated and driven. Some goalkeepers have thrown in the towel in the past as far as international football is concerned, but David is not the type to do that and now he has given Sven a nice problem.”

Lee Bowyer returns to the West Ham squad for tomorrow’s trip to the St Mary’s Stadium after completing a two-match suspension.

The only injury doubt is midfielder Michael Carrick, who picked up a stomach strain playing for England Under-21s last week, and he faces a late fitness test.