West Ham manager Slaven Bilic says the decision to bring on substitute Havard Nordtveit for star man Dimitri Payet was the the right one in the context of the game.
The Hammers were holding on to a 2-1 lead heading in to the final minutes of the game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Saturday before sub Nordtveit conceded a penalty which led to Harry Kane scoring the winning goal. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Bilic defended the tactical change:
“It was like five minutes to go, we were 2-1 up, from my point of view, for our point of view, it was a logical move to put on a fresh body. He was excellent but we thought, ‘Ok it’s like the end of the game, we are winning, let’s hold on.’ We wanted to score a third one but when we see them coming then you think you can resist it with one more player, a fresh body for five or seven, eight minutes.”
Nordtveit’s cameo was certainly pretty disastrous but the collapse in the final few minutes of such a crucial game will concern many Hammers fans because of the manner of it.
West Ham have only kept three clean sheets in 12 league games this season, all of which came in their only three victories of the campaign in the 1-0 wins against Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Sunderland. They now lie just one point above the relegation places with 11 points, heading in to the vital match against Manchester United next Sunday.
