Ahead of West Ham United’s game with Norwich City on Saturday, manager Slaven Bilic faced the media.
The boss fielded a number of questions on varied topics from Andy Carroll’s first start in seven months, how to break the Canaries’ down and enjoying the Hammers’ bright start to the season…
Good morning Slaven, what’s the team news for Saturday?
SB: “We’re still in the crucial stage of recovery from Leicester on Tuesday. We have a few knocks that we need to assess, no major or serious but we will have to wait and see. We’ll know better tomorrow.”
Andy Carroll played 60 minutes on Tuesday, how far away he is from being fully fit?
SB: “He couldn’t be working harder in training, but after seven months out, these things take time. We have to be patient and we don’t want to rush him. Having said that, he can only regain that edge but playing games, so we have to find the right balance.”
Saturday’s game follows another fantastic away win at Manchester City; do you need to win this game against Norwich City to match up the home and away form?
SB: “Well we’d like to win both, six point is obviously nicer than three. We won our last home game which was crucial to get that first home win. We are going to do everything to win and get four straight league wins that is our aim.”
Last season West Ham got off to a terrific start but then faded away, are you conscious of that?
SB: “It’s still too early to compare. Last season there were injuries and some unlucky games. Perhaps we lost a bit of motivation. We’re not looking too far ahead, we’re thinking about September and October. We don’t want to look too far ahead or think about where we might finish in the table, it is too early for that.”
West Ham’s conversion rate is impressively high, is that something you’ve worked on?
SB: “Yes, and it’s not accident. We work hard on training, on shooting, and it’s very important because it has served us well. It’s not come out of the blue and I am confident we can maintain that rate.”