- Boss admits to frustration after seeing his team fail to turn 25 shots into a goal at Leicester
- Islam Slimani's 20th minute header was the difference at the King Power Stadium
- Boss pleased with majority of performance but wanted to see more in the final third
Slaven Bilic admitted to feeling a sense of frustration after watching his team fall to a 1-0 defeat at Leicester City in their final game of 2016.
Leicester took all three points thanks to a 20th minute header from Islam Slimani and the Hammers were unable to respond despite seeing plenty of the ball around the Leicester box.
They had 25 shots – and forced Kasper Schmeichel into five saves – but could not find a way through as Leicester held firm.
Bilic believed that, having recovered from a slow start, his team should have taken something from the contest.
“It’s very frustrating to lose a game like this,” he said. “They started better, and were the better team for 20 minutes.
“They deserved to score, but then after that we played very good and had a few chances in the first half that we should have scored from.
“Second half we were missing that final touch, that final ball. We gave everything and it’s a shame to lose like this. That’s life.
“The finishing or the last ball was not quite there. Okay they defended with bodies and they put a lot of players in the box, so it’s hard to break them. But basically we there there in the good positions in the whole second half and we just couldn’t finish it.
“Of course we are down and disappointed now, but we know we played good and can build on this. I think we deserved something out of the game.”
Second half we were missing that final touch, that final ball. We gave everything and it’s a shame to lose like this.
Slaven Bilic
Referee Anthony Taylor issued eight yellow cards over the 90 minutes. Five of those were to Leicester players, and one of the fouls – Daniel Amartey’s on Mark Noble – forced the Hammers skipper to leave the action early.
Bilic said the booking tally was the result of a keenly contested game, and not brought about by ill feeling.
He added: “There were a few tackles, but this is the Premier League. None of the tackles were nasty deliberately.
“There’s no hard feelings about that, and we hope that Mark is not injured seriously, but I didn't see a game that was bad tempered.”