West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has given his full backing to the club’s decision to switch from Upton Park to the London stadium in the summer.
The switch to the new ground has been blamed for the Hammers’ poor home performances this season, but the West Ham boss is in no doubt that the move is in the best long term interest of the club, although he knows it will take time to adapt. He is quoted by Reuters as saying:
“The move always had a lot of positives but it also had negative things, especially short-term. One of those negative things is the time — you need time to adjust. That goes with a new stadium. In the long term it is the best thing that the club has ever done. Make no mistake about it.”
Generally teams have better home records than away records but this season the Hammers have performed equally poorly both at the London stadium and away from it.
They have won one more game at home (5) than away (4) this season and have conceded a total of 27 goals in 15 matches at home, nearly two goals a game. They last won at the London stadium in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace back in mid January, and the poor home displays have no doubt contributed to the pressure being put on manager Slaven Bilic, in addition to the current run of five consecutive defeats.
