Bilic: ‘I can’t get over how awful’ referee Michael Oliver was

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic expressed his frustrations with referee Mike Oliver’s performance in his team’s 2-2 draw with West Brom Saturday afternoon.

The colorful Croatian was both calm but apoplectic in his post match interview over Oliver and his crew’s decisions throughout the contest, which resulted in him and his assistant coach Nikola Jurcevic being sent to the stands.

“I can’t get over this, I can’t get over this” Bilic said. “I really rate Michael Oliver. I really rate him. He knows that. I tell him that privately.”

“Last few years I calmed myself down and all of this, but I can’t get over this. The referee was, sorry for the words, nothing personal, but the referee today was awful.”

“He knows that I rate him big time. He knows that. I enjoy watching him. So that’s why I don’t understand what happened today.”

Despite those negative feelings, Bilic was enthralled with his team’s display in coming from a goal behind and being seconds away from back to back comeback wins.

“We played fantastic,” he said. “One of our best games. We were great as a team. Very positive going forward with the ball, hurting them but also keeping the shape to stop them counterattacking us. In the second half, it was all us, it was a fantastic performance.”

You can watch the full post-match TV interview here: