West Ham manager Slaven Bilic vows to fight on after Arsenal humbling
Saturday 3 December 2016 23:02, UK
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic vowed not to walk away from the club after their 5-1 humbling at the hands of Arsenal.
The Hammers went a sixth Premier League game without a victory on Saturday evening as the Gunners won on their first trip to the London Stadium, to leave their city rivals languishing a point above the relegation zone.
Asked whether the club's recent performances have put his position in jeopardy, the former Croatia boss told Sky Sports: "I am very optimistic, I never give up.
"I'm positive I can turn this around. Do I enjoy this? No. Do I feel pressure? Yes. But I am positive.
"Did I do enough last year to get some credit? Yes, I think I did. But I know how football works."
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Bilic was then asked whether he would walk away from the club, to which he replied staunchly: "No."
West Ham's lethargic and abject display was of stark contrast to that of Arsenal, who were inspired by a sensational display from Alexis Sanchez.
After setting up Mesut Ozil for the opener, the Chile international scored a brisk second-half hat-trick to condemn the Hammers to what Bilic admitted was a humiliating defeat.
"I'm very disappointed, frustrated, and humiliated," added Bilic. "I want to say sorry to the fans and to the club. It was really bad.
"I feel responsible. Somewhere along the line we lost the intensity in training. We don't do it all the time, only occasionally, and that's why we can't do it in games.
"We can't rely only on quality if you don't have the intensity required at this level. It's my responsibility as a manager and I have to get it back.
"We are in a relegation fight. Of course the players know. It's not that they don't care. But it doesn't look like we know that.
"We are together. It's about time we realised our situation and what we have to do to get ourselves out of it."