We played like 11 lions! – Bilic buoyed by West Ham´s grit

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic was buoyed by the fighting display of his side as they held in-form Everton to a goalless draw on Saturday.

Everton’s struggles on the road continued at London Stadium, with West Ham restricting Ronald Koeman’s side to few chances and having the better of proceedings throughout.

And Bilic, who has come under pressure during a difficult second season at the Premier League club, reflected on a job well done by his side.

“I am really pleased with the performance, I could not ask anymore from my players,” Bilic told BBC Sport.

“In terms of effort, dedication and determination they get top marks. If any team deserved three points it was us.

“To limit them to one chance requires a lot of hard work. The only bit of negativity is that I felt at moments we lacked some quality in our decision making.

“We played like 11 lions, one for each other. We talk about the magic number of 40, I think we might need a few more points, so we are not going into the last game needing them.”

While West Ham are 13th with 38 points to their name, Everton move up to sixth thanks to the draw, though have played three games more than seventh-placed Arsenal.

And Koeman, whose side have won their last eight home fixtures in the league but failed to replicate that form on the road, was honest in his appraisal of Everton’s lacklustre performance.

“I wasn’t happy at half-time so we tried to do something. I couldn’t change four, five, six or seven. But I changed two to give a signal to the team,” Koeman told Everton’s official website.

“Maybe the clean sheet is a positive, but there are no more positives.

“I’m disappointed by the performance. It was far from the level we showed across the whole season. It was poor, I can’t say different.

“It can happen. It was a slow start. We didn’t have the intensity, and it took so much time for us to find free players. 

“One team – West Ham – didn’t create a lot, they had more chances, but it wasn’t a football game to enjoy.

“We need wins now to get a chance of sixth or fifth place.”