Slaven Bilic admitted that the responsibility for West Ham United’s dreadful start to the season lies with him and denied that there is any split in the dressing room after the 3-0 defeat against Southampton here on Sunday.
Bilic spoke as the West Ham captain, Mark Noble, pulled no punches, criticising the “laughable” defending that has led to West Ham conceding 11 goals in their past three league matches
His manager insisted the attitude in the camp remains positive. Yet West Ham’s manager said that confidence evaporated after Charlie Austin’s opener for the visitors and he accepted that credit is quickly running out for him and his players, with his team stuck in the bottom three after five defeats from their first six matches of the season.
“It is my responsibility, it is my team,” Bilic said. “I am not flying away from the responsibility and I don’t want to point fingers. We are talking behind closed doors. It is never one player. One player can make a mistake and you can lose a game. It is a team, it is teamwork, it is a team mistake.
“But definitely these are the same players and same manager and crowd that were doing it last year. But it is true that at the moment we have to be clear, everything that was really good last year is bad. Everything that was average last season is way below par.”
Bilic added: “We can say the season is only just started. But it’s happening for four games now and we have to change it big time. It is not working.
“I told the players after Watford or West Brom that there is no need to panic. The credit was there. Now the credit is gone. Same with me. If you ask me if I am low tonight, of course I am low. We lost this today game 3-0 at home and we deserved to lose.”
Southampton rose to ninth place after further goals from Dusan Tadic and James Ward-Prowse. Claude Puel’s side were good value for their victory and a visibly upset Noble was damning in his assessment of the match.
“Eleven goals in three games is laughable,” the 29-year-old said. “We could have kept playing until tonight and we wouldn’t have scored. I thought we started all right and then bang; we conceded a goal and we never looked back in it.
““If I’m honest, it could have been six in the end. On the bright side I don’t think it can get any worse. At the moment we’re just not good enough.”
Bilic was asked if the players are pulling in the same direction. “Are they together?” he said. “From what I see I can see, they are good with each other. They are maybe too good with each other. They are a very healthy group of players. They are the same players who did it last year. Of course when it is not going so well you can’t expect the atmosphere to be smashing. But have I noticed any problems in training? No.”
This was West Ham’s third defeat at their new home – following the 1-0 loss against Astra Giurgiu in August and the 4-2 defeat against Watford last month – and Bilic said that it hurt to see supporters leaving long before the final whistle. “It is not a good sight,” the manager said.
For Southampton this was a fourth straight victory in all competitions and their second in the Premier League following the 1-0 win against Swansea City at St Mary’s on 18 September. In those four victories the south coast club have kept four clean sheets.
“The first half was difficult. We looked nervous at the start in a large stadium. It was important to correct that,” said Puel. “In the second half we could see a team and players with a good quality level and we created many chances.
“It was important for the team and important for me that Charlie scored with his first chance. This is a striker with confidence.”
