Slaven Bilic came close to collapsing with relief as the final whistle blew on the 90 agonising minutes against Swansea and immediately declared: “It is a huge win and I congratulate the boys. The spirit, team-work. We were solid and dangerous. We deserved to win.
“It was much-needed. There was big pressure, not on me, but the players. The crowd recognised that and were behind us.
“It was a great goal. We started well and after half an hour they slowed us down. We had chances before the goal, but in every game you need a spark of extra quality.
“It’s my job, but there’s a bigger picture about the club. We are the ones to blame for being in this position. I was celebrating for the players, because they have been with me and they deserve it. Now we need four more points as soon as possible.
“We were out of the relegation battle six games ago and we are out of it again. We don’t want to be in it again.”
And skipper Mark Noble added: “That’s our biggest win in a few years. The run we’ve had, we haven’t been good enough but we haven’t had the rub of the green either.
“I thought we played well under pressure. Swansea were only a few points behind us. It was so important and it’s a fantastic win for the club.
“One more win should see us safe. This should release the pressure, the lads should be happier. We haven’t been good enough for a couple of months, but this should release the pressure.
“It was not pretty but the only thing that matters was the three points. There’s no point in us playing like Real Madrid and losing 2-0.”
That was a tense game. I was expecting a defeat as we have been so bad so its a pleasant shock to beat Swansea and increase tha gap between the two clubs. What a long second half that was.
Your not wrong Stratford I thought Friend was shocking most of the match, although it was desperate stuff I would struggle to give any of our players less than 8 out of10 special praise to Lanzini, Masuaku, Byram and Kouyate, Noble had a good game also COYI !!!
I thought Bilic decision to take off Snodgrass and replace with Feghouli was bizarre. Left the excellent Bryan exposed v Montero. Thought however Fernandez was execellant when he came on but sadly noble was awful.
I think that the team plays better when Fernandez is on the pitch. We should build a team around him.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the forwards & midfield players all trying to harass the opposition when they did not have the ball, this has been missing in previous games, however Kouyate seems a bit lazy when he loses the ball he does not try to Catch up the player just lopes a yard behind. My man of the match is Collins several times he dug Fonte out of a hole of his own making & headed all of their free kicks to safety at least our back four actually kicked the ball well upfield when in trouble, instead of playing silly passes, perhaps Slav has given them a safety first lecture. Calleri has not changed all promise & no substance yet another missed goal from 10 yards what do they do in training.
I agree with you Claret, pretty much all the players were pressing and putting their foot in which was just what the doctor ordered COYI !!!
‘We haven’t been good enough for a couple of months..’ Hmm, would you like to rephrase that skipper?
Still, a win is a win. Not really the West Ham way, but that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Please one more win soon so that I can forget about football for a few months & hope for better things next season.
Do not agree. I thought it was a very good performance in the context of the game situation. Every one fought well except Feghouli. He was a disgrace to the c and b shirt. When he lost the ball (which he frequently did) he mad little effort to get back and help Byram. Why he is even on the bench amazes me. Bilic – look carefully at the video of this game and then throw the lazy sob out of our club. A bloody disgrace.