West Ham fans finally got a look inside their brand new stadium on Thursday but not all of them were pleased with what they found.
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The midfielder said: “We have spoken about it. You go to the Emirates, Old Trafford and the Etihad and they are great arenas to play in”.
But West Ham avoided the need for a tense finale as Feghouli produced the knockout blow inside the final 10 minutes when he darted into a Mark Noble pass and drove a low past Maraval to settle matters.
“There’s no better way to adjust to a new stadіum than playіng іn іt”.
Their 2-1 first-leg advantage owed more to West Ham’s rustiness than any particular threat and from the first whistle they were able to take as much time as they wanted to settle into their new home.
Despite their one-goal lead overall, West Ham remained vulnerable to being hit on the counter-attack by their Slovenian opponents who, while lacking a clear cutting edge, were neat and tidy enough on the ball to hurt Slaven Bilic’s team.
Either way, the London Stadium passed its first test, as did West Ham, but there are still some questions that are likely to linger for some time.
“We will do the same things – go for a meal, get on the coach, but instead of Upton Park, we’ll be coming here in front of 54,000”, added Bilic.
“It was hard psychologically for us but for the stage we are at we played really good; we were fit, aggressive and played good football.
We’re not going to go over the top with our performance but if we stay like this that’s very good”.
The game came five-and-a-half years after he left London rivals Arsenal for Borussia Monchengladbach having failed to break through under Arsene Wenger.
Bilic would not be drawn on new arrivals despite the club being linked with a new left-back given Aaron Cresswell’s knee injury.
“Unfortunately we played a bad game so result is logical”.
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However Bilic, who confirmed that Diafra Sakho’s move to West Bromwich Albion collapsed after the striker failed a medical, was quietly encouraged.
