Slaven Bilic faced the media ahead of the EFL Cup third round game against Accrington Stanley and was asked about the importance of seeing his team get straight back on the winning trail following disappointing results against Watford and West Brom.
The Hammers boss provided the latest team-news and shared his views on wanting a good run in the cup competitions....
With the results the Club have faced in recent games, would you rather not have a game and stay on the training ground to address some of the issues you have faced?
SB: “In one way yes, but this game is good for us and the competition is very interesting for us.
“We don't have to travel the day before the game and we have a good opposition. We have some players who have trained really well during pre-season and have not played as much.
“It is good for us to have a game, especially as we play on Sunday against Southampton.”
What kind of team will you play against Accrington Stanley?
SB: “We are going to play a mixed team. It is not that we are under-estimating the competition or the opposition, but we need some changes.
“As I said previously some of the players deserve to get a chance.”
In terms of the last three league results, how concerned are you by the amount of goals the team are conceding?
SB: “I said after the West Brom game that we played a really good second half and against Watford we played a good first half until the final four minutes.
“But we have had a couple of poor results after the international break and have conceded eight goals in two games. Those results have taken us into a situation which is not very pleasant.
“We got ourselves in a problem in two weeks and it is that kind of a league. We have to act and very soon you can get out of a problem. We have to do it starting on Wednesday.
“We have three mega games and three cup finals before the break. We have Southampton and Middlesbrough after the Accrington game and it is a good opportunity to come out of trouble.”
How disappointed have you been with the recent results against Watford and West Brom?
SB: “The boys know I am not happy. We spoke about it after the West Brom game and I want to see a reaction from the guys. We have to do it in games.”
Is there an issue with the time it takes for the players to gel together considering the number of new players who arrived during the summer?
SB: “We have some new players and a lot of them were injured. A few of them came from different leagues and some were not regulars in their team.
“It is about time we gel together and start playing as a team for ninety minutes. The last two results have got us into trouble and we are not happy with the performances and results.
“We need to start being consistent as a team week-in week-out and then everything will be okay.”