Ahead of Saturday's trip to Carrow Road, Slaven Bilic faced the media
Ahead of the Hammers’ trip to Carrow Road on Saturday, Slaven Bilic held his pre-match press conference.
During the briefing, the manager fielded a range of questions from team news, facing the Canaries and feeding of Tuesday night's victory...
Good morning, is there a feel good factor after Tuesday’s result or do you have to guard against fatigue?
SB: “Well, we have a few knocks and injuries but overall it’s a good feeling. Even those guys with a knock, they feel good. When you win you don’t feel the fatigue as much. 120 minutes is of course a lot to play, but we are all looking forward to the Norwich game on Saturday.”
Of those injuries, what can you tell us about them? How will that effect your plans for Saturday?
SB: “We have a situation with Joey O’Brien and Winston Reid, they both injured hamstrings, they are having a scan today and then we will know.
“We have also James Tomkins who is out for five weeks, they are three big defenders for us, it’s not a great situation.
“I think the knocks are going to be OK for Saturday. Cheikhou Kouyate is OK, he is doing well, but because of the rules he can’t play because he was unconscious. It’s a big blow for us of course, but we will put a strong team out. Alex Song is back, we have enough to put a very strong team out.
“On Sunday, Manuel Lanzini will train with the team which is obviously a big boost for us. If everything goes well, he could feature against Blackburn Rovers next Sunday.”
Is Norwich the kind of game you have to win in order to stay in the Top Six?
“Well, we go to Norwich knowing that we lost our last league game away at Southampton. It is a good game to bounce back; we absolutely need to get something from the game. It’ll be a hard game because they have lost five games in a row but before that they were in a very comfortable position. In the transfer window they did really good, they spent money and got good players. They need a result like crazy so we are expecting a very tough game.”
During the briefing, the manager fielded a range of questions from team news, facing the Canaries and feeding of Tuesday night's victory...
Good morning, is there a feel good factor after Tuesday’s result or do you have to guard against fatigue?
SB: “Well, we have a few knocks and injuries but overall it’s a good feeling. Even those guys with a knock, they feel good. When you win you don’t feel the fatigue as much. 120 minutes is of course a lot to play, but we are all looking forward to the Norwich game on Saturday.”
Of those injuries, what can you tell us about them? How will that effect your plans for Saturday?
SB: “We have a situation with Joey O’Brien and Winston Reid, they both injured hamstrings, they are having a scan today and then we will know.
“We have also James Tomkins who is out for five weeks, they are three big defenders for us, it’s not a great situation.
“I think the knocks are going to be OK for Saturday. Cheikhou Kouyate is OK, he is doing well, but because of the rules he can’t play because he was unconscious. It’s a big blow for us of course, but we will put a strong team out. Alex Song is back, we have enough to put a very strong team out.
“On Sunday, Manuel Lanzini will train with the team which is obviously a big boost for us. If everything goes well, he could feature against Blackburn Rovers next Sunday.”
Is Norwich the kind of game you have to win in order to stay in the Top Six?
“Well, we go to Norwich knowing that we lost our last league game away at Southampton. It is a good game to bounce back; we absolutely need to get something from the game. It’ll be a hard game because they have lost five games in a row but before that they were in a very comfortable position. In the transfer window they did really good, they spent money and got good players. They need a result like crazy so we are expecting a very tough game.”