Bilic: Winston Reid’s injury is ‘nothing serious’

It was the start to a forgettable, apocalyptic first hour at St. Mary’s Stadium for West Ham United Saturday, when star centerback Winston Reid had to be stretched off in the pre-match warmup.

But in some good news on a wild, devastating day for the Hammers, manager Slaven Bilic has indicated that the New Zealand captain’s injury is not major.

In his post-match press conference following the 3-2 defeat to Southampton, Bilic discussed the cruel twist of fate of talking about the Hammers finally having a fully fit squad for a rare, historic time on Monday, only for Reid’s shock injury to occur simultaneously.

“It was like irony, when I was talking to one of the physios, ‘On Monday, we were expecting the whole team to be fit,’ every player which hasn’t been the case for the last five years,” Bilic said. “And while we are talking in the dressing room, the other physio comes and he say, ‘Winston hurt his Achilles.’ And in the end, it wasn’t the Achilles. It was the calf. They say it’s nothing serious, but we will see how things have to go with this.”

“At least it wasn’t a rupture, at least we hope.”