West Ham United

Slaven Bilic admits to West Ham United selection dilemma

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 18 September 2017

Slaven Bilic admits to selection dilemma

Slaven Bilic says that is it "almost impossible" to use Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez in their favoured positions, while at the same time sticking with a back three.

West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic has admitted that he is finding it "very hard to please everyone" as he looks to get the best out of Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez.

The 49-year-old brought Hernandez in from Bayer Leverkusen during the summer to complement Carroll, who recently returned from injury and has two starts under his belt.

Bilic has high hopes for his strike duo, but he concedes that playing Hernandez in his "ideal" centre-forward role alongside the Englishman - rather than out on the left - is not straightforward when it comes to team structure.

Asked if he was thinking of pairing them in the number nine and 10 positions, he told reporters: "Yes, but it's very hard to please everyone. It's possible, of course, and I'm thinking about that the most. It's very hard to put two of them on their ideal positions as two strikers, which looks really good on paper.

"It's easy to do that of course, but then it's very hard to have three at the back - it's almost impossible. Chicharito is at the moment playing in a position that is not his ideal position.

"But I spoke to him and he is a great lad and I said 'we have priorities and at the moment the team needs you there' and he is doing the job, of course. Now we have to keep it - we have to keep the stability, we can't lose it."

Carroll is to sit out the EFL Cup third-round tie with Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night as he is eased back into competitive action.