Avram Grant adamant West Ham will not be relegated despite Bolton defeat

Boss believes that his side endured 'one of those days' in defeat to Bolton at the Reebok but insists the Hammers will improve in their next six games

 

West Ham United manager Avram Grant has insisted his side will stay in the Premier League despite losing 3-0 to Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium.

Goals by Daniel Sturridge and Chung-Yong Lee did the damage to inflict a defeat that leaves the Hammers mired in the relegation zone.

However, speaking to reporters after the game, the West Ham boss insisted his side would stay up and would show their quality in their remaining six games.

“I believe that we will stay in the league, I believe because it’s not what you say in the first half today,” he said.

“That’s not something that you see every day in our team that was something exceptional.

“We will show that we can play, we will show also that we can recover and respond to a situation like this, this season and we need to do it in the next six games.”

The former Chelsea manager also took time out to praise Bolton who warmed-up for next weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Stoke City in fine style.

“Bolton are not in the relegation zone and they’re not at the top so they play with freedom and they were trying to play football with a lot of good players and they had nothing to lose,” he added.

“We wanted to play different but it was one of those days where everything is going against us.

 “I think even if it’s not looking like it on the pitch sometimes, there is a lot of commitment, they showed it.

“But sometimes there is a danger; everything we are trying is not going well.

“They had a chance in the first 25 minutes and they scored, we had one chance before with Wayne Bridge which we didn’t score, we had chances in the second half we didn’t score.

“It’s one of those days.  It looks like it’s not, but I don’t have a player with their commitment.”

Grant also bemoaned his side’s ability to cope with going a goal behind and criticised his players for their poor possession.

“We started the game good but I think the first goal affected us and we were down and we let them control the game,” he said.

“We lost almost every battle in the first half so that was the key.  We gave the ball away so many times.”

NIni/goal