Slaven Bilic Remains Optimistic Despite 'Disappointing' 3-2 Defeat at Southampton

West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic is feeling optimistic despite losing out on the points at St. Mary's on Saturday. 

In an entertaining encounter on the south coast, Bilic saw his record signing Marko Arnautovic receive a red card for elbowing Jack Stephens in the face before the Saints scored a second goal to increase their lead.

Chicharito then scored a brace to level the scoreline, before late substitute Charlie Austin converted a last gasp penalty to make the score 3-2.

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Speaking to BBC Sport, Bilic was asked what he thought about the late penalty decision: "I'm not going to talk about it, I will talk about the quality of our game, I will talk about how we came back from being 2-0 down with 10 men, and how we had a game plan at half time and how we really showed great quality and team spirit and fitness and everything.

"We lost a point, and we are very disappointed of course, but we gained a lot of things and there were a lot of positives today.

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"We started the game well and had three chances to take the lead or to equalize, but we didn't, we conceded a very cheap goal, the first one from the counter-attack. But as I said, we reacted really good and I'm proud of the team."

In regard to new signing Chicharito scoring a brace, Bilic was pleased with the attacker's goals and his work rate, saying: "He didn't only score goals but he showed great defensive work, and he's one of the positives but there's really a lot of positives today."

Asked whether giving away two penalties was a source of frustration, Bilic answered: "Are you trying to make me talk about the penalties? I told you in the beginning that I wasn't going to talk about it. I'm going to leave that to you and to your colleges."