I´m OK with diving sometimes – Bilic

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic is proud his club are not divers, but would be content if his players occasionally went down easily to win penalties.

Jamie Vardy was sent off for diving during Leicester City’s 2-2 draw at home to West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday.

While Bilic is happy for his team to avoid labels, the Croatian would still welcome spot-kicks if they presented themselves.

“When your player comes into the box, you want him to assist or to have a strike on goal,” he said.

“His first idea shouldn’t be to watch for a contact and all that.”

Bilic added: “I’m not Mahatma Gandhi. I’m not going to lie. I would like us to get a penalty.

“We, as a club, don’t want to get that label, but occasionally I wouldn’t mind it. But I’m proud that we’re not that kind of club.”

One of Bilic’s players, Dimitri Payet, has been accused of diving this season after an incident against Manchester United in the FA Cup.

But Bilic defended the France international, saying there was contact that led to Payet going down.

“The ‘dive’ with Payet, there was a touch, a light touch but a touch from behind and in my point of view if a player goes down with a touch – especially a touch from behind – a touch from behind means he’s not looking for contact, he doesn’t see it,” he said.

“And then sometimes when you feel a touch you go down, which is different for me than diving, so that wasn’t a dive.”