West Ham United vs AFC Bournemouth - Bilic tells West Ham stars must make sacrifices

Posted Saturday, August 20, 2016 by PA

Slaven Bilic will keep operating Michail Antonio at right-back and has called on his players to be "humble" when asked to sacrifice their favoured position for the good of his West Ham side.

Antonio, 26, was signed last summer after impressing on the wing for Nottingham Forest - but towards the end of his first season he was being deployed in defence for Bilic's side.

He also started there in Monday's defeat to Chelsea, conceding an early second-half penalty moments before being hauled off by Bilic in the 2-1 loss.

Bilic has said the former non-league player will still have to do shifts in the defence as well as playing on the wing, as he did in Thursday's 1-1 Europa League play-off draw at Astra Giurgiu.

"I have told him it is going to be a mix," Bilic said when asked where Antonio's long-term position would be.

"I expect my players to be humble and sacrifice individually for the sake of the team which we did last year.

"Without that you have got no chance and that was our pattern and base last year, and on that we built what we had - it was our biggest strength, the team.

"It is always my decision who is going to play and which position they will play. Of course it would be ideal if we could put all of them in their ideal positions. There's no democracy like that in this business."

The Hammers have a ready-made right-back in January signing Sam Byram and he could start there against Bournemouth on Sunday in the first Premier League game to come from the London Stadium.

But Bilic has faith that Antonio can be just as good in either role as his side look to contend with a run of five games in a fortnight.

"He's a really good lad, a great professional," Bilic said.

"He didn't have a bad game (against Chelsea), he had a really bad reaction, he was too sloppy (with) what he had done in that position.

"Against Chelsea, as a winger in that position after 60 minutes of the game you simply can't do that. But it's a game of mistakes and, as I said, he's a brilliant lad, a brilliant professional.

"And I told him before the season that he's going to play probably a mix of those two positions, but for me he's got the quality for both of them."

It has been suggested West Ham will feel particular pressure to impress at the start of a new era, but Eddie Howe dismissed the notion that Bournemouth could therefore benefit.

"There's pressure on us," said the Bournemouth manager. "I always believe there's pressure on us - from our own supporters, from ourselves. We want to perform and give our best in the game.

"There's going to be a lot of hype surrounding the game, we're aware of that, the fact it's the first game in the stadium, but none of that matters to us. It's all about making sure we apply ourselves in the right way.

"They're a very good side, have a very good squad, have a number of attacking options. They've added some good players to their team. The obvious threat with Andy Carroll is the aerial ability. Anyone who plays West Ham when he's in the team, that's a threat we're going to have to counteract.

"They've got obvious talents - (Dmitri) Payet, you could go on - it's all about us and making sure we're right first."