Slaven Bilic: I didn’t make excuses after West Ham’s 5-1 defeat to Arsenal but the injuries have hit us hard

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Slaven Bilic9 December 2016

My comments after the Arsenal match, about us losing our intensity in training, have provoked some reaction, as I expected. I spoke honestly, as I always try to do — and I am not one for making excuses, because the fans can always see through that.

I would take this opportunity for the first time since then to make one thing clear, though: when I talked about the loss of intensity, some people thought I was pointing a finger at my staff.

That was wrong. I think I said, four or five times, that it is me and it is my job to take responsibility. Believe me, we’re not having a jolly-up in training... no, no, no, it’s not like that.

The main reason why we lost that intensity is that we have had so many injuries all in a small space of time. Then, because we had three games in a week, we had to balance things, not walk on egg-shells exactly, but to be careful in training.

I would like to clarify this now. I was not criticising my staff. My reason was not to moan because we had lost to Arsenal but to provoke a reaction so we can get back that intensity.

Have I see that reaction? We have had a good few days training but, rather, I want and expect to see a good reaction in the long-term.

The bottom line is yes, it is my job to get the best out of my players — and I said just that, a few times, straight after the Arsenal match. I am not in the blame game because that achieves nothing.

I was very disappointed after that match and what I said was from the heart. Now, almost a week later, I just want to make it clear that it is because of the disruption to our squad caused by so many injuries.

Maybe I should have made more of the effect of those injuries after the game and I know many would have done. Maybe that was my mistake, but I have always hated to say something following a defeat which sounds like excuses.

To be honest, following a 5-1 defeat, almost anything is going to sound that way but perhaps, in hindsight, I should have made more of the injuries because they were a significant factor.

Okay, we let in four against Manchester United in the EFL Cup and five against Arsenal, but prior to that we were beginning to look solid, sharp and really good against top sides like Spurs and Manchester United in the Premier League.

Then, suddenly, bang! You are without four of your players, three of whom are probably among the best in terms of physicality in Michail Antonio, Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho, plus Aaron Cresswell, who is also very important to us.

Missing those players can only adversely affect your game, no matter who you are playing against — and you can add to that, an injury to James Collins early in the game which meant we had to change things around. Even with all that — and I admit they were better than us in the first half — it was only 1-0 for 70 minutes and we were looking more likely to equalise when they scored their second.

When that happened, though, we basically crumbled and that shouldn’t happen. Okay, it is 2-0, but so what? Maybe we can pull a goal back or even make it 2-2, but that didn’t happen.

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