Daily WHUFC News - 26th February 2018

Ogbonna: We need to move on to Swansea
WHUFC.com

Angelo Ogbonna says the Hammers will learn from the experience of defeat at
Liverpool as they prepare for next weekend's trip to Swansea City. The Swans
dropped back into the relegation zone on Saturday as they suffered a defeat
at Brighton by the same 4-1 scoreline as the Hammers faced on Merseyside.
Ogbonna is determined to ensure his team tighten up again and extend the gap
between themselves and the South Wales side when they meet at the Liberty
Stadium. I think we started the game well at Liverpool and the first half
was good," he explained. "But they are fantastic - Liverpool played a good
game with pace. I think 4-1 was too much though. "We went to Anfield to play
our game, and we're still positive of course. Now we have to focus on next
week's game at Swansea. "We have to forget the Liverpool game and look
forward. It's an important one next week, we are focused on improving our
position in the table and every game is important to get the big results."

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BILIC ON WEST HAM
By Blind Hammer 25 Feb 2018 at 17:00
WTID

Blind Hammer reports on Bilic's Radio Five Live remarks.

Slaven Bilic was the guest on Five Live's Sportsweek this Sunday. He made
some interesting comments on his time at West Ham.

ON Payet.
Payet was not difficult to manage generally. He was good in the dressing
room and not difficult throughout the first season. He was OK for the start
of the second season. Bilic did not believe that Payet's desire to move was
about money, as to be fair, the club had rewarded him. However he did want
to move back to France. When he could not do this he became silent and
withdrawn from the rest of the squad. The other players noticed this and
this is when Bilic eventually had to come out in public to report what the
issues were. The Manager has ultimate control but in the end you need your
best players playing for you, creating or scoring goals. If this is not
happening then it needs sorting out.

On his record at West Ham
The first season was incredible but he thought season 2 was very good as
well. Season 2 was good because of the difficulties that they had to
overcome. This was not only about the difficulty of adjusting to a new
Stadium but the incredible amount of injuries and surgeries that depleted
the squad throughout the season.

On Pressure
West Ham was not the most difficult and pressured job he has done. The most
pressured and difficult job he did was managing Croatia for 6 years WHERE HE
HAD TO COPE WITH THE EXPECTATIONS OF A WHOLE Nation.

On leaving West Ham.
Bilic did not have hard feelings about the sack. He said it was done in a
"nice and polite" way. Karren Brady was the messenger but of course he knew
it was likely to come. He said that he still felt he could have turned
things around at West Ham.

Later in the interview however he appears to have more ambivalent feelings
about this. He most surprisingly said that actually he should have left West
Ham at the end of season 2. He said to be fair that he had been desperately
tired, having worked nonstop in management for over 10 years. This need for
rest was why he had not already returned to management. He said that he had
already been contacted about his interest in alternative management jobs,
including contact from Premier League as well as clubs abroad. He had turned
them down because he still felt he was recuperating. Unless he received an
incredible offer, he did not plan to return to Management until the summer.

On David Moyes.
Bilic felt that Moyes had done a great job since he had gone to West Ham.
The big advantage Moyes has had over him was that he was able to come in and
go "right back to basics". This is always easier for a new Manager to do
coming in from outside compared to a Manager who already has a history
complicated by existing relationships established with players.

The full interview is available on BBC iPlayer.
COYI
David Griffith

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