West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has asserted that it was simply a tactical decision to substitute off Javier Hernandez in the 2-0 win against Huddersfield on Monday night.
Bilic’s controversial decision was met by boos from sections of the Hammers supporters at the London Stadium, however his call proved to be effective as Andre Ayew came on for the Mexican international and made all the difference.
Ayew assisted Pedro Obiang’s opener before netting himself to give West Ham their first win of the season.
Now, Bilic has made it clear that he didn’t think Hernandez was having a poor game and that his team simply needed some fresh impetus to encourage a result.
“It was not because Javier did not have a good game – it was a time to get fresh legs on the pitch,” said the London Stadium boss, as quoted by injury expert Ben Dinnery on his personal Twitter account on Tuesday.
Bilic on replacing Hernandez: "It was not because Javier did not have a good game – it was a time to get fresh legs on the pitch." #WHUFC
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) September 12, 2017
OPINION
In hindsight, Bilic was 100 per cent correct to take off Hernandez. However the Croat simply shouldn’t have started the £16million striker out of his comfort zone on the left side of the attack. If West Ham want to play with Hernandez and Andy Carroll up front, that will only be effective if they are spearheading something that resembles a 4-4-2 formation. Hernandez seemed to have just been forced out wide just to accommodate Carroll and that was very poor management from Bilic. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because his side won, but Huddersfield were bound to see their good start unravel at some point. West Ham’s trip to West Brom this weekend will be a much tougher test.