West Ham manager Slaven Bilic says the defensive mistakes made against Arsenal last weekend, and in other matches this season, make it extremely hard to build a solid foundation from the back.
The Hammers have the joint second worst defence in the Premier League this season with only bottom club Swansea City conceding more, and writing in his column for the Evening Standard, Bilic says the balance between attack and defence is very important:
“I want my team firstly to be solid but then, when we have the ball, to express themselves, hurt and harm the opposition. Last year, we were solid and compact, especially against the big teams.”
“Against Arsenal last weekend, though, you can’t be solid if you give the ball away in a bad area, as we did for the first goal. If that happens, it doesn’t matter where you park the bus, or even how many buses there are!”
Sunday will see the Hammers come up against another free-scoring side in Liverpool at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp’s side suffered a dramatic late loss to Bournemouth last weekend and Bilic will be hoping his West Ham team can take advantage of some of the defensive uncertainty in the ranks of the Reds currently.
With both teams finding it hard to keep clean sheets, it looks likely there will be goals at both ends of the pitch, with the Hammers hoping they come out on top as they seek to move away from the relegation zone.
