Robert Snodgrass blasts West Ham boss Slaven Bilic: 'He did not know what my position was'

Robert Snodgrass has launched a scathing attack against West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic, claiming he did not know what his best position was and which role to play him in.

Having scored seven Premier League goals in the first half of last season with Hull City, the Scotsman moved to east London for £10.2m in the January transfer window. However, Snodgrass failed to settle in the capital and barely left a trace at the Olympic Stadium, starting only nine top flight games before being shipped out on loan to Aston Villa last week.

The former Leeds United and Norwich City midfielder admitted his relationship with Bilic got off to a very unpromising start, which in hindsight was a sign of things to come.

"I was coming on against [Manchester] City and he [Bilic] said 'where do you want to play, on the left or right?'," Snodgrass told The Herald. "I thought 'you have just signed me and I have played on the right or behind the striker at Hull City all season'.

"That was my debut and alarm bells were ringing right away. I found it very strange and I realised from the off that it wasn't going to happen."

A right-winger by trade - Snodgrass had been deployed with notable success in that position at Hull and Leeds - but Bilic insisted in often playing on the other flank, a position the Scotsman was far from comfortable in.

"Every time I played, I was on the left. I don't know why he did it. I joined as Dimitri Payet left and maybe it was a case of 'you can play there'," he added. "But I'd only filled in on the left on a couple of occasions. I hate that position but when you are Scottish you are brought up to play anywhere."

The Scotland international also felt that by playing him on the left, Bilic would stifle his goalscoring vein, which had seen him net nine times in all competitions with Hull between August and December.

"It's fine to play for one or two games but you need to play in your right position, especially on the back of scoring nine goals for Hull," he continued. "At that stage, nobody had scored more goals for Hull or West Ham. The manager was under a lot of pressure and I later said that out of respect I didn't want to go in and see him during that period. But when I eventually did speak to him I said I thought he would have known I wasn't a left-midfielder and that he must have watched me after signing me for that type of money."