West Ham Fan View: Why Slaven Bilic had to go

Slaven Bilic is no longer the manager of West Ham United. After months of ‘must-win’ situations and Bilic constantly being under pressure, the board have finally acted. We currently sit in the relegation zone with only 9 points from 11 games and Bilic being sacked had to take place.

Bilic’s first season in charge will never be forgotten. We played exciting, attacking football and ended up challenging for the Champions League spots. Yes, the season ended with us finishing 7th but this was only 4 points behind 4th. It was a season that none of us expected. We were excited for the future. But we failed to build on that season and the departure of Dimitri Payet played a big role in this. Here are three major problems that Bilic failed to solve which led to our current situation…

Defensive woes

In our first season, having Payet in the team meant that we would create numerous chances per game. We did have a poor defence, conceding 51 goals but we scored 65. Payet leaving meant that we had to improve our defence but we failed to do this.

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There was little defensive organisation last season and this season. Our opponents were allowed far too much space in games and this meant that we leaked goals. 64 goals were conceded last season. 23 goals have already been conceded this season which is the most in the Premier League. Bilic’s failure to find a solution to our defensive woes meant that being in the relegation zone was inevitable.

Poor transfers

Now this may not be entirely Bilic’s fault given that we have a long history of making poor transfers. But we can’t ignore that we signed many players during Bilic’s time at the club and the majority of them failed. Our squad was not improving and when our starters got injured, the back-up players were not good enough. We had no squad depth and this was evident in our performances.

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Right-back was a major problem and Bilic did sign Sam Byram and Alvaro Arbeloa but neither impressed and the latter is no longer at the club. This led to Cheikhou Kouyate and Michail Antonio being played out of position which further harmed the team.

We also spent far too long chasing big-name attackers only to sign the likes of Emmanuel Emenike, Simone Zaza, Jonathan Calleri, Gokhan Tore, Sofiane Feghouli, Robert Snodgrass and Marko Arnautovic. Only one of these players remains at the club. We failed to replace the creativity and impact that Payet brought to the team and this showed in our dire attacking performances.

Lack of consistency

There were far too many times during Bilic’s reign where we failed to build on a win and carry that momentum into the next game. Last season, it was only on three occasions where we won twice in a row in the Premier League. Let’s not forget that it was only two weeks ago where we knocked Tottenham out of the Carabao Cup only to lose that same weekend after being 2-0 up.

There was also a lack of consistency when it came to team selection and it’s clear that Bilic did not know what his best team was. Players were constantly played out of position and there was no clear plan on the pitch.

It is a sad day for the fans given the memories that we had of Bilic as a player. But with relegation being a real fear, there was no alternative to him being sacked.