West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has insisted that Saturday's point wasn't enough after drawing 1-1 with newly-promoted Middlesbrough.
Not good enough
The Hammers headed into the London Stadium clash desperate to end their recent run of form, having lost their previous four league matches prior to the arrival of Aitor Karanka's men.
It looked to be heading the same way once again as Christian Stuani gave the away side, however an excellent effort from Dimitri Payet ended their dreadful run, but after the game Bilic said that the point isn't what they were looking for.
“OK, we have stopped the losing streak with a point, but of course we were looking for three points," Bilic told whufc.com. “To be fair the guys showed character, they showed the spirit and they showed quality. That’s what I asked, what I demanded from them, and they did it."
He continued: “It was not enough to win the game – at the moment we are not playing great football in terms of creating lots of chances, but it was a game where we had to fight and work hard," and despite that he admitted “Although we are not happy with the result, there were a lot of positives about our performance.”
Stuff of excellence
Once again, it proved to be Payet who was the difference for the Hammers, and Bilic praised his star Frenchman for his performance and goal.
“It was an unbelievable goal, and it’s only a shame that it was not a winning goal," and was firm in saying "The response from the whole team, and especially from him with his goal, was good."
He continued: “The goal stands out. First of all it was a goal that brought us back in the game and second the way he scored the goal is quite amazing."
Bilic concluded: “In this situation you need that moment of class from the best players to lift the whole team up. That’s why they are the best players.”
West Ham United will take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, October 15 with kick-off at 5:30pm BST.