Slav refuses to blame Payet absence for defeat

Dejected Slaven Bilic admitted the Hammers were way second best in the clash at White Hart Lane declaring: “It was a very bad day for us but I still believed  we were in it at half tme.”

And he added:”We had played some good stuff and had controlled things but the third goal killed us. You have to be very focused in these games and they were more so than us.

“They were better than us. They pressed and kept the ball well and in the one on one challenges they were quicker and stronger.”

Discussing the absence of Dimitri Payet he said: “We are going to play a lot of games without him and of course we are going to miss him but we didn’t lose today because Payet was missing. There were other reasons.

“We have the quality to replace him but I’m sick for the fans. Being beaten 4-1 by this team is hard to take but we can’t say we were unlucky!”