West Ham's players admit they 'did it for Slaven' after kickstarting their campaign against Huddersfield.

The Hammers boss was feeling the heat after starting the season with three straight league defeats.

And, as reported by Mirror Sport last month, the club had already begun considering potential alternatives to the Croatian.

But his players eased the pressure on their under-fire boss with a first league win of the season against Huddersfield on Monday.

And defender James Collins reckons the squad, rather than Bilic, should have been in the spotlight before the 2-0 triumph at the London Stadium.

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He said: “There has been a lot of talk and he has been under a lot of pressure, but that’s down to us. I say it all the time, I do find it a bit funny when managers get so much stick when it’s the lads on the pitch performing or not performing as we were, and the gaffer has to take it on his shoulder.

“We had to give him a performance and a result. It was not really about how we played tonight, it was about getting three points and thankfully we have done that.”

Jose Fonte said: “He’s a passionate manager and he’s a great manager.

“He deserved this because he has been under a lot of pressure as we all know.

“It was important for him and it was important to show our attitude and to show we are always with our manager.”

Pedro Obiang is mobbed after his fortunate opener (
Image:
REUTERS)

Goalkeeper Jose Hart said: “We are a group and we stick together, He puts a lot of faith in us and it was important we stuck together. I think that was the main thing - we stuck together and we got the result.”

A first league clean sheet since January was an added bonus for England keeper Hart.

He said: “It’s about time. There’s always a chance that something might happen but I thought the defenders were fantastic and they protected me really well and I didn’t really have that much to do.

“I’ve kept plenty of clean sheets for my country. I am going to keep trying to make as many saves as I can. Whether we keep a clean one or not as long as we win I am not really too interested. I am going to try and keep that form going.”

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