Bilic defends Payet´s rabona

Slaven Bilic insists he has no problem with Dimitri Payet trying to execute a rabona on the pitch again following his stunning assist in West Ham’s defeat to Watford last weekend.

The France international used the audacious technique to set up Michail Antonio’s second goal, but the Hammers surrendered their two-goal lead and eventually fell to a 4-2 home loss.

Manuel Lanzini had also tried to shoot with a rabona in the match and Watford captain Troy Deeney said afterwards that his side had felt West Ham were trying to “mug us off”.

Payet insisted this week that the act was “instinctive” and, ahead of Saturday’s trip to play West Brom, Bilic also stressed his belief that such play can only be considered a positive. 

“It doesn’t bother me if someone does a rabona pass and it ends up in a goal,” he said at his pre-match news conference.

“It is good for the confidence and the crowd. The home wins are important as we want our fans to go away happy.

“We want to entertain the fans on the pitch. It is a different stadium and we love our new home. It takes time to adjust.

“Antonio has been brilliant offensively scoring four goals and he is very direct. He is linking up well with Payet.”

Bilic warned his players not to underestimate West Brom after their poor loss last time out.

He continued: “I don’t think my players under-estimate any team we have played so far. We were expecting a tough game against Watford and we were right.

“It was not a good performance last week. More individual mistakes and misunderstandings from a couple of players.

“We have talked about it behind closed-doors. We had a really good meeting and now we are waiting for the reaction of the team.

“Mistakes will happen but we have to defend better and defend like we did last season.

“West Brom have a good team and they are playing good football. I have a big respect for Tony Pulis and the job he does every year.”