Slaven Bilic claims hooligans hurting West Ham

Slaven Bilic has acknowledged that it hurts him and West Ham United to see the club's name dragged through the gutter by hooligans.

The manager was more keen to talk up his team’s result against Chelsea from Wednesday night, when a 2-1 home win put them through to the EFL Cup quarter-finals, where they will face Manchester United at Old Trafford.

It was West Ham’s third win in succession in all competitions and it suggested that they had turned a corner after a difficult start to the season.

But it was overshadowed by the trouble in the stands at the London Stadium, upon which West Ham have promised to clamp down. They intend to serve banning orders on 200 of their fans, who they saw on CCTV committing various offences during the game.

Bilic was asked whether he felt the club’s reputation was being dragged through the gutter by the minority.

“Yes,” he replied.

“It does hurt. Of course it does. The club didn’t deserve it; the players don’t deserve it, definitely; the fans didn’t deserve it. The majority of them, of course. The big majority. Vast majority.”

Bilic wanted to look forward to the Premier League visit tomorrow to Everton, the club for whom he once played.

“I don’t think the players have been distracted [by the off-field issues],” he said. “I think they are totally motivated and really concentrated on the game on Sunday.

“We really felt like home [against Chelsea]. Everything that we have been talking about before the game, about the new stadium being a home ground as the Boleyn ground was for so many years – we really felt the crowd behind us in the game against Chelsea. It was loud, they were really behind us. It was great support, apart from that thing [the crowd trouble], of course.”

West Brom boss Tony Pulis has signed a one-year extension at the club, the club have announced. The 58-year-old has committed his future to The Hawthorns until 2018.

Mauricio Pochettino hopes Harry Kane will be back to face Arsenal next weekend but said he will not rush the England striker or his other injured players until they are ready.

Tottenham will also be without the influential defender Toby Alderweireld when they entertain Leicester after the Belgian failed to recover from a knee injury. That means Eric Dier is expected to continue alongside Jan Vertonghen at centre-half, with Son Heung-min likely to continue in place of Kane in attack despite Vincent Janssen scoring from the penalty spot against Liverpool in midweek.

Pochettino, who laughed off suggestions that he may try to tempt Sergio Agüero to Spurs amid rumours that the Argentina striker is unsettled at Manchester City, was not keen to commit to a return date for Kane; the striker has been absent since last month due to an ankle injury.

Tottenham face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday before facing their north London rivals on November 6th.

“It’s difficult to know with Harry, but we’ll see,” Pochettino said. “If not Wednesday, maybe Sunday [for Arsenal]. If not, we have to wait two weeks until after the international break.”

Pochettino said his players face training in injury rehabilitation that is almost tougher than regular sessions, in order to maintain peak fitness.

Double sessions

“They are not frustrated, that’s a word we don’t like to use,” Pochettino said of Kane and Alderweireld. “They feel very well, they’re working very hard and they suffer a lot.

“Do you know why they want to be available quickly? Because we kill them when they are injured. They have double sessions every day, and they suffer, to keep fit then.

“It’s a good thing to say, ‘Hey come on, work hard’. That’s a good thing. They are very positive but you cannot accelerate sometimes the process in your body.

“We can only work hard to keep them fit and, when the doctors say they are available, that’s when they are available. It’s true that the players always want to play all the time but sometimes it’s not possible.”

Guardian Service