Bilic hands out heavy team selection clue

Slaven Bilic has given a big clue into his team selection thinking for a game at Palace which he admits “determines his own situation” dubbing it “massively important..”

He declared: “Mental strength is most ­important thing. That’s why you need leaders, those kind of senators in your team. We’ve enough of them, a few captains of national teams.”

Such a description would describe international skippers Winston Reid, Cheik Kouyate along with hardened PL pros Mark Noble, Pablo Zabaleta, Andy Carroll, Chicharito and Michail Antonio (if fit) and  Joe Hart.

That would leave three other places to be filled with probably Aaron Cresswell, Jose Fonte and Manuel Lanzini getting the shout.

Discussing his selection issues and the match itself Slav illustrated his point by pointing to the spat between Danny Rose and Mark Noble on Wednesday night.

Noble was dropped for the previous two league games but that confrontation may have sparked the second half revival.

Bilic said: “Was it a coincidence or was it more important than the first goal? Nobody knows. Maybe it helped.

“Mark Noble has that in him. He’s the captain who loves to be the captain. He is Mr West Ham, has been all his life, and he is first for that.”

Bilic did not play down the significance of today’s visit to Selhurst park.

“I know our situation,” he said. “Our situation ­determines my situation. It’s a massively important game.”

“Mental strength is most ­important thing,” he said. “That’s why you need leaders, those kind of senators in your team.  “We’ve people who won major trophies with their national teams or with ­previous clubs.

We’ve a good mixture of them and young ­players who will hopefully achieve what their colleagues achieved.

“That mental strength is key today, especially in the Premier League when you have a ­feeling it’s like big brother, you are there 24/7, on the radar, every move being analysed.”

So possibly – based on his comments – the Hammers look likely to line up like this: Hart, Zaba, Reid, Fonte, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate, Antonio, Lanzini, Chicharito, Carroll