Slaven Bilic says he is aware of the threat Southampton will pose at the weekend, and has identified their ‘dangerous’ attackers as something his side will have to watch out for on Saturday.
The Hammers travel to St Mary’s tomorrow on the back of a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United, while Southampton go into the tie after drawing 0-0 with Swansea City last weekend.
Despite the Saints failing to hit the back of the net against the Swans however, Bilic will not underestimate Mauricio Pellegrino’s side, with the Croatian knowing just how effective they can be in front of goal despite their recent struggles finding the back of the net.
“Southampton are a good side. They have a new manager in Mauricio Pellegrino, but despite a few changes of manager in recent years, they keep the same model and the same system.” said Bilic in his weekly column on whufc.com.
“For me, they play good football. I heard a few people say last year that they were boring, but I don’t agree with that. They have some dangerous attacking players.”
The Saints have a wealth of attacking talent at their disposal in the likes of Nathan Redmond, Charlie Austin and Manolo Gabbiadini, however have failed to find the net in six of their last seven top flight games. That doesn’t stop Bilic being wary of Pellegrino’s side however, who he knows will be out to to get their first three points of the season.
“They didn’t score against Swansea last week but they played well and should have won the game. They are a good team, and they were a good team last season, but we beat them 3-1 at their place and we have to find that level of performance again this weekend.”
