Unfit players, failed signings and days off after defeats: why West Ham sacked Slaven Bilic

Slaven Bilic 
Slaven Bilic was sacked by West Ham on Monday morning  Credit: getty images

Last season Slaven Bilic used the phrase “the perfect storm” to describe the circumstances that had conspired against him and West Ham United in a difficult campaign: the problems of the move to the London Stadium, signings which had not worked, injuries that had hit hard and an under-performing star player.

Those problems have also persisted throughout this season. Marko Arnautovic has replaced Dimitri Payet, who forced his way out last January, as the failing talisman. And so Bilic was always fire-fighting, always on borrowed time, always under almost intolerable pressure.

His dismissal is no surprise and, in all probability, he would have gone at the end of this season anyway with his contract due to expire. There was a feeling among the club's powerbrokers that a new man was needed to re-energise a squad that is under-performing and appears gripped by fear and a fan-base who are on the edge of turning against them, if they have not already.

Bilic may have lasted this long, partly because of a lack of viable alternatives – West Ham have been casting around and it is hard to entice a manager in work, mid-season. The perils of the replacement process were underlined by the vehemently angry reaction to the prospect of David Moyes taking over from supporters, one which has caused alarm within the club.

The fans’ disenchantment, with swathes of empty seats visible long before the end of Saturday’s emphatic defeat at home to Liverpool, led striker Andy Carroll to demand they should stay until the end. Given Carroll is one of the club's highest-paid players, along with the likes of Arnautovic, Andre Ayew and Javier Hernandez, but is rarely fit and has never justified the financial outlay invested in him, those comments must have been galling to supporters.

West Ham vs Liverpool
Vast sections of the ground had emptied out long before the final whistle against Liverpool on Saturday Credit: Getty images

The first thing to say about Bilic is that, without him, the club may well have gone down last season instead of finishing 11th. That followed a seventh-placed finish in his first campaign in charge, the last at Upton Park. Bilic is also not only a decent man but a decent manager and one who works hard at attempting to coax the best out of his players who he remained popular with.

However, the complaints about his management of West Ham have piled up and there is no doubting that, ultimately, he has failed.

After his first season the club recruited badly - although Ayew at £20million was a Bilic acquisition and he, too, has struggled - but this summer the signings were his: Arnautovic, Hernandez and goalkeeper Joe Hart on loan from Manchester City, plus Pablo Zabaleta, on a free transfer, from the same club.

The big failure was in not signing holding midfielder William Carvalho from Sporting, despite Bilic working hard on the deal as he regarded the Portuguese international as vital to the way his team would be set up. It did not happen. Instead, Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho scathingly referred to West Ham’s co-chairmen, David Sullivan and David Gold, as the “Dildo Brothers” and Bilic was left desperately disappointed.

Marko Arnautovic
Marko Arnautovic has struggled since joining West Ham Credit: Reuters

Sullivan released a statement claiming Bilic had turned down the chance to sign either Renato Sanches, who joined Swansea City on loan, or Grzegorz Krychowiak, who joined West Bromwich Albion. It may have been an attempt at clarity, at communicating with the fans, but it amounted to throwing Bilic under the bus. He was left furious, as it was highly disputable how close West Ham were to getting either player.

The statement also exposed, in case there was any doubt, that Bilic was always on borrowed time and soon familiar complaints emerged: the players were not fit enough, were not working hard enough, the tactics were wrong, the manager was failing to get the best out of his squad.

As a litany of errors it was fairly comprehensive, with the club’s hierarchy having long complained that Bilic was far too loyal to some players and to his largely Croatian staff. That included Miljenki Rak, the fitness coach, who is 70. West Ham felt he could be helped by working with a younger coach but Bilic vetoed this.

It meant the club were inclined to examine fitness and running statistics – and constantly complained that West Ham’s players were always near the bottom of the league when it came to that analysis and other measures such as high-intensity sprinting. It was further pointed out that Bilic did not like double-sessions and, for example, that Huddersfield - managed by David Wagner, a coach admired by West Ham - were in training at 9am the day after they recently beat Manchester United. West Ham’s players, in contrast, were given the day off after losing to Liverpool.

Slaven Bilic
Bilic gave his players the day off after losing to Liverpool Credit: PA

Tactics have also been questioned with the argument that West Ham have performed better with three-at-the-back, although Bilic preferred 4-3-3, a system which falls down because he does not have that holding midfielder. It has also been noted that the team has conceded too many goals from set-pieces and that the defence appears disorganised.

There was more – not least the damning accusation that Ayew and Arnautovic were both the star players at Swansea and Stoke City respectively but have struggled to impress at West Ham despite both being on wages of nearly £100,000-a-week and that Hart may not, actually, be any better a goalkeeper than Adrian who he has replaced at considerable salary cost. Bilic wanted bigger personalities in the dressing room but they have failed, so far.

When a manager faces these kind of relentless, detailed complaints he is always in trouble. Bilic was well aware of this and also that it was not results such as losing at home to Liverpool that have led to his downfall but taking just two points from fixtures at home to Brighton, and away to Crystal Palace and Burnley.

The Brighton defeat, like the loss away to Newcastle United, was particularly painful - and was exemplified by the sight of the newly-promoted club’s 37-year-old right-back Bruno coping so comfortably with Arnautovic, the supposedly marquee signing who could replace Payet and provide the personality to the team. The Austrian was a gamble for Bilic, at a club record fee that could rise to £24million, but it simply has not worked out.

It is a shame. Bilic and West Ham were a perfect fit. Instead the manager has been washed away by a perfect storm that simply would not relent. He is gone. Hopefully now the players will take their share of the blame for that.

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