Domzale vs West Ham United - Bilic backs new boys to make big impact ahead of Europa tie

Posted Thursday, July 28, 2016 by PA

West Ham head into Europe on Thursday night minus some big names but armed with new signings who manager Slaven Bilic is looking forward to seeing in action.

Dimitri Payet, one of the stars of Euro 2016, is still missing along with James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna following their exertions in France, while Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini are both sidelined by knee injuries.

But Bilic could field his three summer signings - midfielder Havard Nordtveit and exciting wingers Sofiane Feghouli and Gokhan Tore - when the Hammers meet NK Domzale of Slovenia in the Europa League third qualifying round.

"They have made a really good impression and some of them will start, definitely," Bilic, quoted on the club's official website, told a press conference.

"If you are talking about Feghouli, if you are talking about Nordtveit, they started when we started because they didn't have international football this summer. They are really quality players and they are what we expected from them.

"Of course they are going to get better and better, but already it is obvious that they are going to improve our squad and make a huge impact on the quality of our game, as well as Tore, who came a little bit after.

"He is also ready and fit and, as I said, we didn't buy just for the sake of buying and just to make our squad bigger. We wanted to buy quality players and I'm sure that we've got them."

Bilic's optimism has been tempered by this week's news that Cresswell has been ruled out for up to four months, while Lanzini had been scheduled to play for Argentina at the Olympics.

"It's a big blow for us, of course," Bilic added. "But hopefully they are going to be back soon.

"We still have to wait for Manuel, when he comes back from the States where he was with the Argentina Olympic team, to see how bad it is.

"We are still waiting for a few players who were at the Euros until basically the end too, so we've been training with 70 or 80 per cent of the squad that we are expecting to have in the Premier League."

Young defender Reece Oxford has also linked up with the squad after helping England to the semi-finals of UEFA Under-19 Championship in Germany.

Oxford made his debut in the Europa League last season before a sparkling performance against Arsenal on the opening day of the Premier League campaign.

Opponents Domzale finished third in their domestic league last term and have so far defeated Lusitans of Andorra - who West Ham beat last term - and Belarusian side Shakhtyor Soligorsk to reach the third round.

The first leg was switched to Slovenia at the request of West Ham, who needed an extra week to get the Olympic Stadium ready, with the second leg to be played next Thursday.