Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham United’s 17th manager

[TommyHammer]

We need to stop buying journeymen who have been there, done that, and no longer have anything to prove. The likes of Chicharito and Nasri etc do not have the fight or hunger to prove a point, and players like Perez have an ego too big to even try and give a half decent performance at a club like West Ham.

[bubbles1966]

But those teams are for the most part awful. The better ones we’ve got at home.

I’m really struggling to marry all the positivity around our new manager and the widespread acceptance of regular poor results.

If we can’t back ourselves to not lose in a run of very favourable fixtures, how low are we setting the bar?

They are all winnable, but over a run of eight a midtable standard team would probably lose one of them - and we've yet to show we're any better than that.

It's possible to stay unbeaten, not probable.

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

Bournemouth was a bit of a smash and grab. An improved 2nd half performance from them and us returning from being 1-0 up to half asleep for 20 minutes, but ok you can have that one. Brighton and Tottemham you really feel we deserved to get beat? Brighton had their backs against the wall, while we dominated and Tottenham left with 3pts due to their MOTM Lloris.

We really haven’t performed that badly in the majority of games. Of course there are always areas where we could’ve done better...but I don’t understand why you would take 17th now? Have we really looked like a side who looks like getting relegated?

[Patito]

We’re a work in progress. It’s 4 months into a major revamp of the entire playing side of the club. The seeds of what’s trying to be achieved have shone through at times. Let it develop

[hammers92]

We're not a very good team at the moment, I can't see how anyone can say otherwise. After 13 games, we're 4 points off the bottom 3.

Maybe it is an evolution. Maybe there may be better days to come. But lose next week, and the pressure comes tumbling back on, the same pressure that came towards Bilic and Moyes.

We need to do pick up points and fast. This isn't progress or the next level and I'm still looking out for it. Relegation is still a reasonable possibility and anyone that says otherwise is just deluded.

I will say this though...genuinely never boring here

[Ironing Board]

I’d rather be grinding out 1-0 wins and pushing for the Europa League than consistently failing to pick up points despite supposedly good performances, but that is just me.

Winning games is far more exciting and invigorating than tippy tappy football.

[hammers92]

I’d rather be grinding out 1-0 wins and pushing for the Europa League than consistently failing to pick up points despite supposedly good performances, but that is just me.

Winning games is far more exciting and invigorating than tippy tappy football.

Not to go against my post above but mate, pack it in.

[EastEndIRON]

I think we need to hit the 20 point mark sooner rather than later before things get even more congested at the bottom over the festive period and beyond (it’s already very tight down there!)

A couple of wins over the next few weeks could be massive

In Pellers we trust

[Ironing Board]

Not to go against my post above but mate, pack it in.

Not at all - I just think too many of us are guilty of putting the cart before the horse.

[Pentonville]

IB - your preference for dour performances from dour managers is well known. Well not for me at least, lets go out guns blazing, rather than the boredom by a thousand cuts of the Allardyce & Moyes (your particular friend) era's.

[Ironing Board]

IB - your preference for dour performance from dour managers is well known. Well not for me at least, lets go out guns blazing, rather than the boredom by a thousand cuts of the Allardyce & Moyes (your particular friend) era's.

I have said before, you build a team in stages. Build from the back, become a team used to winning, then add flair to go to a higher level. I think that is a more beneficial approach in the long term.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

according to some bright spark in the NFL "Offense wins you games, Defence wins you Championships..."

not sure how true that is any more though.....with all the points going on the board these days....

[Ironing Board]

according to some bright spark in the NFL "Offense wins you games, Defence wins you Championships..."

not sure how true that is any more though.....with all the points going on the board these days....

I always liken it to a house with solid foundations. When it gets dicey you can rely on your foundation to get you through troubled times and grind when necessary.

[hammer1975]

We’ll find out over next six-or-so games

Could go either way as every one of those matches will likely see the opposition in our faces with a pressing game - which we haven’t really shown we can deal without yet

Obviously hope Pellegrini does well but he could really do without any further injuries

This run of matches will tell us more about whether we’ve progressed than games so far this season (and certainly more than yesterday’s match) IMO

[Pentonville]

IB - I'm not sure why you appear to be criticising Pellegrini for failing to 'build from the back'. That surely is what he has be doing. We have the best keeper we have had for ages. Diop is in many people's opinion a real prospect given his age. Balbuena, has come straight in from S.American football and is certainly an upgrade on Ogbona, and has put in some excellent performance (albeit limited in distributing the ball out of defence). Zabaleta is the consummate professional and an inspiration to the rest of the team. The left back position is of course problematic, but has been for sometime.However, this position is a source of weakness for many other premier teams as well; Andrew Robertson for Liverpool is very much the exception in emerging left backs. As for the defensive midfield positions, Declan Rice has been a revelation. Sure we need a midfield player who is able to distribute the ball effectively in the absence of Lanzini, but Pelligrini was not to know he would be out for half a season.

[Beavis Danzig]

i wonder if IB booked the week off work when he saw we had man city on the fixture list.

[Ironing Board]

IB - I'm not sure why you appear to be criticising Pellegrini for failing to 'build from the back'. That surely is what he has be doing. We have the best keeper we have had for ages. Diop is in many people's opinion a real prospect given his age. Balbuena, has come straight in from S.American football and is certainly an upgrade on Ogbona, and has put in some excellent performance (albeit limited in distributing the ball out of defence). Zabaleta is the consummate professional and an inspiration to the rest of the team. The left back position is of course problematic, but has been for sometime.However, this position is a source of weakness for many other premier teams as well; Andrew Robertson for Liverpool is very much the exception in emerging left backs. As for the defensive midfield positions, Declan Rice has been a revelation. Sure we need a midfield player who is able to distribute the ball effectively in the absence of Lanzini, but Pelligrini was not to know he would be out for half a season.

We should have went all out for Tierney ahead of Anderson in my opinion - he is believed to be superior to Robertson by the Scottish national team an Celtic fans. I also we missed a trick in not purchasing McGinn as he would have been a cheap and able option in the middle of the park for a fraction of the Wilshire outlay. Our weakness on both flanks was in urgent need of addressing - Zab is great, but is ancient and has hinted this is his last season before retirement.

Fabianski has been a great signing, but we are still lacking in key defensive areas.

You say we are building from the back, but we are far too easy to play through. I believe Declan is our best midfielder, and then Noble. The fact the best players in the key central midfield area are a youngster (albeit a very promising one) and a much maligned Old campaigner is not good enough from a recruitment point of view.

[Pentonville]

i wonder if IB booked the week off work when he saw we had man city on the fixture list.

Beavis, quite right. I think IB must have been salivating at the thought of us losing 4,5,6,7-0 to Citee. Vindicated! we are not as good as...Bournmouth, Brighton, Huddersfield even... Sack Pellegrini! restore Moyse! Rejoice in the Wonder Bowl, a stadium that this team is not worthy to play in.

[IronworksDave]

Far to many teams who said 'we deserved more' 'we're too good to lose' have ended up being relegated ... it's easy to say we could have got something out of various games, but had we got the equalizer, had the lucky bounce gone our way, had we been given that penalty ... who's to say the opposition on the day wouldn't have just upped their game? Spuds were **** against us, but that's all they needed to be ....

At the end of a season the table doesn't lie ... we need to get points ... we need to stop gifting goals ... like it or not winning games starts with a good defence ... the teams that concede the most goals get relegated pretty much every season ... Fulham are looking nailed on if they don't plug the leaks ...

It's not rocket science if you keep a clean sheet one goal wins it ... concede one goal and two goals gets three points ... when you concede close to two per game you need to score three per game for the three points, that's just not happening most weeks ....

[Ironing Board]

Beavis, quite right. I think IB must have been salivating at the thought of us losing 4,5,6,7-0 to Citee. Vindicated! we are not as good as...Bournmouth, Brighton, Huddersfield even... Sack Pellegrini! restore Moyse! Rejoice in the Wonder Bowl, a stadium that this team is not worthy to play in.

That ship has sailed - but you do not even address my points!