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da bwin： West Ham United need a new manager.
This is an argument that is repeated ad nauseam simply because the Hammers can’t ever seem to find the consistency required to break through the proverbial glass ceiling in the Premier League.
This season is a prime example. West Ham are currently 11th in the table. They sit five points behind seventh-place, a promised land that could ultimately offer a club qualification to the Europa League.
But they are remarkably unlikely to make up that deficit. Both Watford and Wolves, with 46 and 47 points respectively, have a game in hand on the Irons because of their involvement in the FA Cup semi-finals at the weekend. They played each other and Watford won 3-2 in extra time.
It was not supposed to be this way. Manuel Pellegrini was appointed at the beginning of the season to bring the ‘West Ham Way’ back. This season that has consisted of sitting in mid-table, occasionally flirting with a run of form, and likely ultimately finishing settled in the bottom half.
David Sullivan, the club’s co-owner, said at the time of Pellegrini’s appointment: “Above all, he is a winner, who knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level and is driven to continue that success.
“Manuel is the first West Ham United manager to have a Premier League title on his CV, and we believe that his experience, quality and proven record of taking teams forward quickly will ensure that he is successful here.
“We have listened to fans who asked us to be ambitious. We hope they agree it is an exciting appointment.”
Pellegrini, of course, won the Premier League title with Manchester City in 2013-14. He did so after signing the likes of Fernandinho, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. All three players cost £20million or more. This was before the mushroom cloud left by Neymar’s transfer to PSG gripped the market and sent prices soaring.
In the summer, West Ham spent over £20m on Issa Diop and Felipe Anderson, being “ambitious” and backing a manager they believed could take them up the table.
The fact of the matter is that, despite that investment, it hasn’t worked. West Ham finished last season in 13th-place. A progression of two places is nothing to write home about unless it is at the very top of the league. Indeed, the season prior to that, West Ham finished 11th.
Is Pellegrini the man to bring the club back to their glory days? It certainly doesn’t seem that way. Small progress in the league would have been accepted had the Irons succeeded in the cups but, instead, they were embarrassed by AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup and thumped by Tottenham Hotspur in the last-16 of the League Cup.
The Chilean is also seemingly unable to make the correct tactical calls. In the Hammers’ last three defeats, he has played three formations. Against Chelsea, he lined up in 4-2-3-1, versus Everton he played 4-4-2 and 4-1-4-1 against Cardiff City.
This is tactical flexibility taken to a strange new level; West Ham’s players have been unable to grow within one system and are instead being forced to make it up as they go along.
This was fine at Manchester City. Those players are a level above those at the London Stadium – even Samir Nasri was better then than he is now – and Pellegrini’s methods have simply not carried across.
At West Ham, perhaps he faces an impossible job. Perhaps the club’s penchant for beating the big teams and losing against those in the bottom-half, their desire for glorious failure and their apparent love of mid-table always doomed Pellegrini to fail.
But he was the “exciting” appointment. He was meant to raise the bar and oversee the Hammers’ rise up the table. But here we are. Progress has been glacial and there is very little chance that things will change next season with Pellegrini in charge.
It remains to be seen if a change will be made. It remains to be seen if the Hammers’ board would trust in a younger, more progressive manager. But as it stands, it feels as though they should simply chalk this one up to experience and move the Chilean on.
Pellegrini has shown this season that he is not the manager West Ham expected him to be. It is best they make a change for the good of the club.