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Josh 12:31 Fri Nov 25
Bilic ES Column
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I 100% back him as manager, even with this hard period coming up.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: I understand why there has been speculation over my future
The defeat at Tottenham was hard to take. In five years’ time, the memory will still be painful for me. We knew how much this game meant to the fans, as it did for us at the club, and we came so close but in the end we lost.
Had we held out and won we would have pulled away from the bottom of the Premier League but, as it is, we are just one place above the bottom three with a tough schedule ahead.
Following the 3-2 defeat at White Hart Lane, there has been speculation about my future. I understand that will happen.
I am not a newcomer to this game and neither am I stupid. I know you are judged on the table and the number of points you have.
There is nothing I can do about that except work hard and look for us to win games. It is not as if we have dropped our performance level. We were a confident team at Spurs.
All I am thinking about is how to improve things, to keep our concentration up until the last second and to eliminate those silly mistakes.
In the corresponding match last season we went to White Hart Lane in a good run of form and lost 4-1. Some people have suggested that last weekend’s 3-2 defeat was even worse.
I think that what they mean is that this one hurts more and it is taking longer to get over it.
Would we rather get hammered? No. This defeat is very painful because we should have won but we can - and we will - take many positives from it. When you are beaten 4-1 there can’t be too many plus points.
This one really hurts - and for longer - but when we analyse the display, then for almost all of the game we did well, both individually and as a team. The mistakes cost us dearly but I can take positives from 80 per cent of that game.
For the next couple of days, the players were low and you could see it hurt them but now we are approaching a new game - admittedly another tough one at Manchester United - and we know if we do the majority of things as well as we did at Spurs, then we have a good chance.
We now face two matches at Old Trafford within the space of four days. I certainly won’t look at Sunday’s League match, though, with one eye on the EFL Cup quarter-final the following Wednesday. We will go there with our strongest team this weekend and see what happens.
As for United, they haven’t yet hit their best form but they were looking better against Arsenal last weekend and certainly looked the part last night in their Europa League clash with Feyenoord.
They played well against Leicester, Fenerbahce and even against Burnley, they were so unlucky not to win.
Of course, I have great respect for them and it is one of the toughest fixtures of the season but now even more, we have to concentrate on ourselves.
Our captain, Mark Noble, is available again after suspension and we missed his character against Spurs, especially towards the end when Tottenham were taking risks and bombing forward. You always need leaders.
It is worrying that, as at Spurs, we’ve had real trouble killing games off after being in front. We must do better.
I also came in for criticism for the substitutions at Spurs and, straight after the match and in view of what happened, I knew it would have been better had I not changed certain things.
For me, though, it was an absolutely logical thing to do at the time. I was happy with the first two substitutions, with Andre Ayew, who is still coming back to full fitness, and Diafra Sakho, who was playing his first game of the season, coming off after an hour.
For many, though, it was the last one - Havard Nordtveit for Dimitri Payet - which ultimately changed the game.
Before the game I was asked if the team I had picked was too attacking but it wasn’t like that. An important part of defending is how good you are when you have the ball.
After we scored our second I didn’t expect us to be holding on for half an hour. We wanted to kill the game off and had three opportunities to do that.
But they were putting us under more and more pressure and with just over five minutes left I wasn’t thinking any more about scoring another goal but rather that we just needed to hold on.
So that is why I made the substitution, I felt we needed an extra body in a midfield holding position with Pedro Obiang but it didn’t work out well.
As I said, if someone reminds me about this game in five years, the hurt will still be there - it’s one of those.
Having said that, I’d recovered by the following day. As a manager, you have to do that. You have to set an example, you dust yourself down, clap your hands and say: “Okay, let’s go again!”
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
Sir Alf
1:58 Sat Nov 26
Re: Bilic ES Column
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We like him as a bloke, want him to do well but as others say it largely comes down to a failure in the transfer market and he is ultimately responsible for that assuming he asks for or approves each player we bring in.
We took the league by surprise first half of last season but inevitably teams adjusted their tactics against us and as the season progressed we found it harder. That was always going to continue this season and get worse as other teams strengthen. They also target weaknesses like our right back area. So we had to get that addressed along with a real quality striker and more pace and better quality in depth in midfield. We failed on all 3 counts.
We should have brought in 3 or 4 top quality players and paid what Sullivan would call "unrealistic" prices because, contrary to Gold's comment that we have our best squad ever, its relative and 14 of the teams in this competitive league can go down if they are not careful.
Tactically he has improved but the 3 at the back is really about not getting a real quality RB and we have not had a proper striker until last week.
Only my opinion and I would love to know the process followed by Messrs Bilic, Sullivan and Henry over the summer with targets, negotiations on deals etc.. Did we miss out on quality because ultimately Sullivan could not resist free transfers like Nordtveit and Ferghouli? Or did Sullivan try to drive too hard of a "value for money" deal and not pay over the top?
Or was it simply Bilic and Henry's targeted players that were all wrong? Or was it all these things?
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Full Claret Jacket
1:23 Sat Nov 26
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"The way some fawn over this bloke is a bit fucking cringe, I don't want him gone, yet, but let's keep it real ffs."
Well said. I'm sure people are in love with his persona as it can't be his managerial ability.
Always want to see decent people do well but he needs to step up and prove his is a top manager or we are going to need to go out and find one. That is unless you are all happy with bouncing between divisions and selling on any talent that we get. I've seen nearly 40 years of that and it would be nice to have a change.
I really feel we have one of the best squads I've ever seen us have and we aren't achieving what we should be this season.
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Private Dancer
5:33 Sat Nov 26
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The way some fawn over this bloke is a bit fucking cringe, I don't want him gone, yet, but let's keep it real ffs.
Don't like what he said about Noble either, basically confirmed what we all suspected which is that he is bullet proof. Wouldn't say that Noble is a leader either and that we missed him, didn't he play there last season when we lost 1-4??
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11MDE
11:54 Fri Nov 25
Re: Bilic ES Column
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Next transfer window is vital.
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stomper
11:43 Fri Nov 25
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Straight up geezer. I want him to manage the club for a long time
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Attwood
11:38 Fri Nov 25
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top bloke. we'll be ok.
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Texas Iron
11:01 Fri Nov 25
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Bilic writes with Slaven Bilic Coloured specs...always...
Nothing new...they sll do ...
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Sesar
10:31 Fri Nov 25
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"then for almost all of the game we did well, both individually and as a team. "
lol seriously? Rubbish!
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cosmo smallpiece
6:52 Fri Nov 25
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ull Claret Jacket 2:49 Fri Nov 25
Re: Bilic ES Column
Shut up you fucking idiot. It was our best performance of the season for 80 mins. We dominated them and Kane is a ducking wanker.
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Sven Roeder
6:28 Fri Nov 25
Re: Bilic ES Column
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I can recall Spurs losing at home in the league to Leicester last season.
When was their last home league defeat before that?
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Percy Dalton
6:25 Fri Nov 25
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What Bilic never said was that Tottenham hadn't won for eight games and with us 2-1 up with three minutes to go we should have seen the game out.
Managers live and die by their decisions Slav at the moment you're dying. I really do hope he recovers.
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LeroysBoots
5:08 Fri Nov 25
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I think most on here are willing him to succeed, he's totally honest and up front and indeed that is refreshing.....however..... if we lose all of these tough few games over the next few weeks do the board have any other option than to try and change the manager?
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chim chim cha boo
4:16 Fri Nov 25
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I still totally believe in Bilic.
It's Havard Nordtveit I don't believe in. I've never been impressed with any of his performances and at some point someone has to throw their hands up and say 'this player is the wrong type of player for the English league'.
It's happened at most clubs with most managers. Even Ferguson bought duds so there's no real shame in it.
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Eddie B
3:58 Fri Nov 25
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Glad he's admitted his mistake.
Just wish he'd stop making them at crucial times.
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Sven Roeder
3:56 Fri Nov 25
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I'm taking this as an admission of a mistake which as I said is refreshing.
I am supportive but if he intends to use Zaza or Nordviedt again without sending them back to play for the development squad to prove they can play football my patience will be tested.
He needs to lift his game and do better.
Like everyone at the club
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Infidel
3:49 Fri Nov 25
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Bilic knows he made a mistake.
Glad to see he's learned from what happened.
He should have brought on Collins and he knows it.
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Spandex Sidney
3:43 Fri Nov 25
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Nagel 1:53 Fri Nov 25
Yes but Bilic had been working with the players for a year then brought in his own! Unlike Conte.
Unforgivable. The tail end of last season was a shambles (Man Utd aside), you would have thought he would have grafted to sort that out and get things back on track for the new season.
No he spent the summer dancing on tables for Ian Wright.
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andyd12345
3:20 Fri Nov 25
Re: Bilic ES Column
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Good article. Mentioning the substitutions is absolutely the right thing to do.
Just acknowledging that he's been criticised for it and trying to explain his thinking behind it is a big positive as far as im concerned.
Still HUGE question marks over him, but he talks a good game
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master
3:13 Fri Nov 25
Re: Bilic ES Column
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The defeat against spurs was clearly the fan's fault and over expectations. Fat Sam told me so.
Bilic. Like a gin and tonic. Refreshing.
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Brucies_Star_Prize
3:02 Fri Nov 25
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Full Claret Jacket 2:49 Fri Nov 25
We were a couple of minutes from being the first team to beat Tottenham in the Prem this season, in a game which saw them restricted to very few attempts at goal. We offered plenty of threat and but for a ridiculous bit of decision making from Zaza, should have made it 3-1 and been out of sight.
Admittedly it's gutting to lose it like that in the last few minutes and Bilic has rightly held his hands up and shouldered some responsibility. But to suggest that we were poor throughout and devoid of a gameplan is misrepresentative of the game.
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