Slaven Bilic: Being less sexy was key to West Ham win
Saturday 5 March 2016 19:18, UK
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic said his side's dramatic comeback win at Everton was a result of being "less sexy".
Trailing 2-0 to 10-man Everton - who had Kevin Mirallas sent off in the first half - after goals from Romelu Lukaku and Aaron Lennon, the Hammers responded with three goals in the final 12 minutes.
Michail Antonio and substitute Diafra Sakho struck within four minutes of each other before Payet popped up in the six-yard area to send the travelling support - and Bilic - into rapture.
"I said at half-time: 'We are one down but we are going to do it. We have to be less sexy and more lethal in front of the box'," he said.
"I didn't know what to do. I went down [the tunnel] to calm down and came back straight away.
"It was a great comeback, a great game. To do it like this is unbelievable.
"Of course they are going to cause you problems with Lukaku, Lennon, [Ross] Barkley but when we had the ball I always had the feeling we could do it."
Everton scored their second goal when they had 10 men and Lukaku also missed a penalty during that period as West Ham failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
"We knew it was not going to be one-sided match when you have a player like Lukaku," said Bilic.
"When they had the ball, he makes that one-player loss less visible. He creates mayhem.
"To come back like this nobody can deny we didn't deserve it. We showed our quality, we showed our stubbornness and we got a great win."
