West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has said that his club needed the brilliance that was provided by Cheikhou Kouyate as the midfielder netted the only goal of the match in a much needed 1-0 win over Swansea on Saturday.
The Senegal international fired home a long range effort during the final minute of the first half to help the Hammers to their first win after a poor run of five consecutive defeats.
Following the victory, Bilic said, “We created a couple of chances before that you might have expected us to score. Then they had a good spell by slowing our rhythm with throw ins around our box and a couple of corners and free kicks.
“And then we needed that type of magic and touch of class and quality and Cheikhou scored a brilliant goal. It was a good time of course to go in at half-time with a good result and a good plan for the second half. So it was crucial.”
The win will come as a welcome relief to Bilic as speculation had developed over the past week indicating that the club were looking to part ways with him due to their poor run of form.
