West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic, admitted that he was left frustrated by his side's late 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.
Snatched away at the death
Optimism was high as the Hammers visited Stamford Bridge, but were under the quash for the majority of the first period, absorbing chances from Branislav Ivanovic, Eden Hazard and Willian. Chelsea took the lead from the spot early in the second period thanks to Hazard, James Collins looked to have secured a point for the away side but were denied by Diego Costa's late effort, and Bilic shared his disappointment at the result.
He told whufc.com: "Of course when you concede so late in the first game it leaves you disappointed and is a big frustration for us,” the reason for which being “we were so close against a top side on their ground, but they deserved it."
Bilic confessed: “We were so close and we thought that’s it, but let’s be honest, apart from the first 15 minutes and from the time we equalised, they were better than us."
Shouldn't have been on the pitch
Bilic seemed to be frustrated that Costa was still allowed to be on the pitch to score the winning goal, after Costa performed a questionable tackle on goalkeeper Adrian, having already been on a yellow card.
However referee Anthony Taylor waved any appeals, and Bilic shared his views on the foul after the match.
He said that It’s the first game of the season and we are already talking about those kind of decisions,” and outlined “From our point of view, of course we are not happy with it,".
Bilic went on to admit that “I saw the incident again and I don’t think it was reckless. It definitely wasn’t a reckless one and it wasn’t deliberate in my opinion, but it was, late very late."
West Ham United will take on Astra Giurgiu in their Europa League play-off at the Stadionul Marin Anastasovici on Thursday, August 18 with kick-off at 7:45pm BST.