James Collins started for West Ham United in their victory against Swansea City at the weekend.
James Collins has told West Ham United’s official website that he has been defending Slaven Bilic to his own teammates at the London Stadium.
Speculation has been rife about Bilic’s future at West Ham, after a run of poor results.
The Hammers had failed to win any of their last seven matches, prior to their contest against Swansea City at the weekend.
Reports suggested (The Sun) that Bilic was on the verge of the sack, unless he could get a win against Swansea.
And thankfully for Bilic, his team did indeed manage to pick up a 1-0 victory over the Welsh side.
The three points have relieved much of the pressure on the 48-year-old boss.
However, Collins does not feel that Bilic should have been placed under such scrutiny in the first place, as West Ham’s players are at fault for their failings this term.
“I said before the game that it’s a weird one because I don’t see why in football the managers get so much stick sometimes when the players need to take responsibility,” Collins said. “I said that to the boys, you know.
“A lot of our boys have played in the Premier League for a long time so we needed to take responsibility, step up to the plate, perform and take a bit of pressure off the gaffer himself.”
Collins was selected to start by Bilic against Swansea, and he repaid his manager’s faith by putting in an excellent display.
The Hammers are now in 14th place in the Premier League table – eight points above the drop zone.
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