Slaven Bilic’s substitutions have split opinion of late – but he has got them right.
Just like the majority of last season, West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic finds himself under considerable pressure – but fans should cut him a little more slack.
With four defeats in the first seven Premier League games, Bilic’s position is under threat yet again, having only just managed to cling onto his job at the end of last season.
Some fans still feel that Bilic is underperforming after Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Swansea City, and those supporters made their feelings known in September.
At 0-0 with Huddersfield Town last month, West Ham needed a goal, and Bilic took the somewhat surprising decision to take star striker Javier Hernandez off in favour of Andre Ayew – a decision which was met with a chorus of boos at the London Stadium.
However, Ayew then went onto score the second goal in a 2-0 win for West Ham, making the desired impact from the bench when Bilic felt that he could win the game for the Hammers.
On Saturday, a similar thing happened. West Ham needed a goal when drawing 0-0 with Swansea, and despite his goalscoring record, Hernandez was again the man to be withdrawn, this time in favour of Diafra Sakho.
West Ham fans again booed the decision to substitute the summer signing, but it was Sakho who met Arthur Masuaku’s cross to score the winning goal for West Ham, handing them a 1-0 victory.
Bilic has been brave to substitute one of his biggest ever signings as West Ham boss, but his decisions to withdraw the popular striker has paid dividends twice now – and those booing Hammers fans should have more faith in Bilic’s changes going forward, even with speculation over his job.
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