Slaven Bilic only concerned by the fate of West Ham and not his own future

The Croat's position at West Ham remains under scrutiny with his side continuing to struggle for points in the league

“I don’t divide my position from the team’s position – we are in the same boat" (Getty)

Slaven Bilic has stressed he is only concerned about the fate of his club ahead of Liverpool’s visit to the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

Speaking at West Ham’s Rush Green training ground earlier this afternoon, the Croat confirmed he was not thinking about his own personal future, which remains under scrutiny with the east Londonders continuing to struggle for points.

“I don’t divide my position from the team’s position – we are in the same boat," he said.

"West Ham is more important than me, than any individual here.”

He did underline, though, that there was mutual understanding between him and the club’s owners that improvement was needed.

“No, no, no [there have been no talks with the owners]

"I know the situation – they do not need to tell me the position I am in or we are in, we need something from the next game.”

The 49-year old also conceded that he was bitterly dismayed that his team had squandered chances to win more games in recent weeks, particularly at Crystal Palace last weekend, where Michail Antonio sloppily conceded the ball in the 97th minute to gift the Eagles a last-gasp equaliser.


 The pressure is on for West Ham boss Slaven Bilic 
 (Getty)

“We have had a few opportunities to get into a more comfortable position and we have wasted it in a bad way.

"The way the Palace game ended, the way we conceded, it was a big blow and another opportunity wasted, dropping two very important points. It hit us.

"That kind of goal we conceded was hard to swallow; it was a very cheap goal. It wasn’t only Antonio but three or four players that were being too optimistic.”

Looking ahead to hosting Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Saturday afternoon, then, Bilic suggested he would rely on his experienced, attacking players to try and recover from recent disappointments.

“They [Liverpool] play offensive football and it leaves them open at the back. So when we play them we have to be very solid as well as creating chances, being strong. If you have a good transition and knowledgeable players in the right positions then we can counter attack.”

“We have to stick with the experienced players to get us out of this”, he concluded.

“It is always like that.”