West Ham boss Slaven Bilic admits he feared following in the footsteps of Frank de Boer after finally registering the Hammers’ first points of the Premier League season.

De Boer was axed as Crystal Palace manager on Monday after just 4 games in charge, and many would have favoured Bilic to follow suit if his team did not produce the right result against newly promoted Huddersfield on Monday Night Football.

Luckily for Bilic, they did. A result that will have eased the pressure on the Croatian ever so slightly. After the 2-0 victory against Huddersfield, the boss admitted that De Boer’s sacking was on his mind.

“Was De Boer’s sacking on my mind? It was. I ain’t going to lie,” said Bilic.

“But I’m 49, I’ve been in football since I was 18, so I know.”

“To be fair, I came into the zone where I didn’t care about that – not in a negative way. I care about the team – but I saw them really focused.”

Huddersfield were the only side in the Premier League yet to concede a goal, and remained unbeaten. However goals from Obiang and Andre Ayew secured all three points for the Hammers, in what Bilic describes as a top performance.

“It was a top performance, not in the sense of beautiful football, but in determination and in executing the game plan,” Bilic added.

“I said last year that our performances in the second half of the season, apart from a couple of games, improved.”

“We have played some really good games here. It will never be Upton Park of course but it is becoming our home more and more.”

[Quotes via BBC]