West Ham must use win as launch pad
A delighted Slaven Bilic watched West Ham beat Tottenham to ease the pressure building on him — but warned them not to “go large”.
Trailing to goals from Moussa Sissoko and Dele Alli, the Hammers launched a remarkable fightback as Andre Ayew’s brace drew them level before Angelo Ogbonna headed the winner.
It could be a pivotal result for Bilic, whose side are above the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference alone.
“Of course I’m glad when we win, especially in this way,” he said.
“But it’s no time to ‘go large’ now — we’ve done nothing, we have to continue like this.”
The stunning result followed a dismal 3-0 loss at home to Brighton, and came with a team showing nine changes from that Friday night setback.
Bilic said: “We couldn’t wait for the game to start after the Brighton game. We would hope the Brighton game was a one-off, recently we are doing well apart from that.
“We wanted to put a strong team out tonight, a few players we rested but mostly we believed the alternatives were also good enough and deserved a chance.
“Players like (Sam) Byram, Ogbonna, Declan Rice, (Edimilson) Fernandes, Ayew, deserved a chance.
“We have to be humble and sacrifice for the cause of the team — no matter who plays there shouldn’t be long faces, we need all the squad.”
Captain Mark Noble admitted the players had to take responsibility for the pressure on their manager and welcomed their show of pride.
“Do I believe in the team? Do