Manager of West Ham, Slaven Bilić celebrated a victory in the small London derby played last night against Crystal Palace, a big relief for the coach and team.
Index.hr reports that the Croatian football expert was very unlucky going into the new season, and it was widely speculated that he was facing dismissal. West Ham’s victory last night against Crystal Palace announced the release of the crisis, taking the team above the relegation zone. In the Premier League, the Hammers played five games without a win. This was only their second win in eight games.
“I must praise the team. We showed all the character and the spirit – we deserved to win, and the goal was the result of great multiplayer action. Immediately after the Middlesbrough match we started to prepare for this match, and we played with three defensive because such a system is best suited to our best players. But more importantly is the approach we had, as we cover each other, and close the rivals. We showed how good we are as a team. However, we need more than a game, more than one victory,” said Slaven Bilić.
West Ham’s goal arrived in the 19th minute when returnee Cresswell assisted the ball from the left flank with Argentine Lanzini close-by to hit the ball in the back of the net.
West Ham’s Cresswell earned two yellow cards in two minutes from controversial calls by the referee. At 75 minutes the Hammers were down to 10 men, but managed to hold on until the final whistle blew.
While Palace had a few promising opportunities, missing a penalty and hitting the post, Bilić’s team took home 3 points – while Bilić should feel a bit more safe maintaining his manager position at West Ham.
