Slaven Bilic has said he is ‘confident’ he will see a reaction from his West Ham side this weekend at Southampton following last weekend’s drubbing at Old Trafford.
The Hammers travel to St Mary’s on Saturday off the back of a 4-0 humbling from Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Two goals from Romelu Lukaku, as well as strikes from Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba sealed ensured Bilic’s men left Manchester empty handed on the opening day of the season.
Despite the result however, Bilic fully expects his side to bounce back this weekend against the Saints.
“After Sunday’s game, the players were gutted. I was gutted. But when we came back into training, the focus immediately turned to Saturday and how we needed to react.” said Bilic in his column on the club’s official website.
“I believe in my players. They showed on many occasions last season a good reaction when it was needed during tough times, and I have confidence that we will see that reaction again on Saturday.”
“They have shown me the right attitude in training this week, and have worked extremely hard to prepare for this game.”
Southampton also go into Saturday’s game without a win this season, with Mauricio Pellegrino’s side being held by Swansea in a drab goalless affair, but Bilic is aware of the threat that the Saints pose.
“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.
“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.”
