After their 4-0 annihilation at Old Trafford by Manchester United, West Ham United manager, Slaven Bilic says his team lost to a much better side.
A brace from Romelu Lukaku, who made his PL debut for United, and two late goals from substitute, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba, condemned the Hammers to a terrible opening day defeat.
Speaking after the match, Bilic expressed his disappointment with his team’s performance, as he admitted that United were by far the better team.
“I expected more, of course,” the Hammers boss said. “I have to admit it, they were much the better side in every aspect of the game. They were better in the air, they were better on the floor and better in 50-50 challenges.
“We knew they had a strong side, but I expected us to do much better than we did on Sunday.
“We were much slower than them. They had pace up front and the quality, and we didn’t want to get exposed in one-on-one situations, because in those situations, individually they can make a difference.
“So we wanted to create the situation that we are two against one in our favour, but to be fair we didn’t have that today a lot.
“It’s very hard to find positives when you lose 4-0, but we have to get up and get ready for the next game.”
Lukaku scored his 11th goal in 13 matches against the Hammers, after he headed in United’s second from a Mkhitaryan free kick, prompting Bilic to add;
“We knew that they have a threat on set-plays. They have four or five really tall players who are good in the box and that’s why we practised set-pieces for three days in a row.
“We looked good, but if you give players like Lukaku so much time and are not close to them, you can’t expect better than [what happened].”
