Hammers eye candidates as Bilic faces axe
WEST HAM have started identifying replacements for Slaven Bilic as pressure builds on the Croatian manager.
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez is on the club’s list of potential candidates to replace Bilic, who is fighting for his job after a poor start to the season.
The Hammers are in the relegation zone, having earned just four points from their first six games of the Premier League season.
Defeat at home to Swansea tomorrow will only increase the pressure on Bilic, and the process of identifying his successor is already under way.
Benitez is a long-term managerial target for West Ham, and the club are also reportedly interested in former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel.
Speaking yesterday, Bilic admitted he is affected by the speculation surrounding his job.
‘I’m coping with it,’ said the 49-year- old. ‘I got used to that. I am doing my job. It affects you, of course it does. You are human.
‘I can see that it’s happening to some new managers. Sometimes it’s easier when it happens to other managers, sometimes it makes you more p***ed off when it happens to your colleagues.
‘Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you are angry, sometimes you are down and other times it makes you more motivated. It is part of the job.’
Both Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio have recovered from injury and are fit to face Swansea.
A shock contender for the West Ham job could be Carlo Ancelotti, who was sacked by Bayern Munich yesterday just four months after lifting the Bundesliga title.
Assistant manager and former Bayern right back Willy Sagnol will take over on a temporary basis, but favourite for the full- time position is 30-year-old Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann.
Ancelotti’s fate was sealed as Bayern lost 3-0 in the Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, the club’s heaviest group-stage defeat for 21 years. Bayern have won seven of 10 games this season and the dismissal appears harsh, despite rumours of dressing-room discontent.
Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: ‘The performance of the team since the start of the season did not meet expectations we put to them. The game in Paris clearly showed that we had to draw consequences.’