Bilic refusing to focus on disallowed goal

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic insists his side will not dwell on refereeing decisions as they look to continue their charge for Champions League qualification.

Having seen Cheikhou Kouyate’s red card against Crystal Palace last week rescinded, there was more controversy during Saturday’s entertaining 3-3 Premier League draw with Arsenal on Saturday, with Manuel Lanzini seeing an early strike ruled out for offside, despite replays suggesting the goal should have stood. 

Arsenal raced away into a two-goal lead following that decision, with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez both finding the net, before two goals in three minutes from Andy Carroll restored parity. 

The former Newcastle United striker completed his hat-trick seven minutes after the break, before Laurent Koscielny rescued a point for the visitors by hooking home on 70 minutes. 

And while pleased with his side’s performance, Bilic was left largely disappointed with the result, adding there was little use in fixating on refereeing decisions. 

“I’m delighted with my players with the way they played and all that. The only thing I’m not happy about was the result,” he said.

“We went two down and then we showed great passion and spirit and came back in no time. Then in the second half we were better.

“We can talk for ages [about refereeing decisions], but the summary is I am very proud of our performance.

“I decided really not to talk about the disallowed goals. I’m not objective but I’m trying to be. It affects my daily life.

“I have been asked about it five weeks in a row so I’m not going to talk about it.”

The performance of Carroll will have been a particular bright spot for the Croatian, but he hinted the striker is still yet to hit top form this season. 

“Sometimes Andy leaves no option but to use him as an impact player but one thing that doesn’t change is we want him on at the end,” he added.

“Now Andy is in shape that other thinking comes into our heads and he was magnificent today.”