Sunday 11 December 2016 20:21, UK
Slaven Bilic believes his West Ham side deserve a lot of credit after recovering from 1-0 down to draw 2-2 with Liverpool.
West Ham fell behind to an early Adam Lallana goal at Anfield, but responded brilliantly and headed into the break 2-1 ahead after goals from Dimitri Payet and Michail Antonio.
While Divock Origi capitalised on a Darren Randolph error to make it 2-2 three minutes into the second half, the Hammers held on for a valuable point.
BIlic was delighted with his side's resilience in a draw which sees them move out of the relegation zone and into 17th.
"They deserve a lot of credit. We conceded a very early goal but after that we showed a great reaction," Bilic said.
"We were good on the ball and I was really happy. In the second half, you are expecting Liverpool to be better but I expected more from us.
"We showed compactness and resilience to get a point which is a great achievement for us."
For a club who has not won since October, West Ham's draw will still be seen as a positive following 5-1 and 4-1 losses to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively.
Bilic admitted he feared the worst when his side conceded to Liverpool after just five minutes.
"When you lose 5-1 at home then concede an early goal at Anfield, your confidence drops even more," Bilic added.
"But we reacted really well and showed character, teamwork and togetherness and at the end we got a really good point."
The Hammers manager went on to defend Randolph despite his costly error before looking ahead to West Ham's next set of fixtures.
Bilic's side face crucial home league matches against Burnley and Hull before Christmas, with the Clarets visiting the London Stadium first on Wednesday night.
"We have to win and hopefully we will, and then it will change - not the season, but it can help up move up the table," Bilic said.
"It's going to be very hard and we will have to show our quality - it will be a difficult couple of games mentally but I'm sure we're going to be ready for Burnley on Wednesday."
