Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham United’s 17th manager

[TheHandOfDog]

I like the 4-4-2 but it's clear it only works in certain situations. I do reckon once Lanzini returns we will continue playing that formation but it will be easier to switch during a match, something I don't think we are able to do right now.

[bubbles1966]

If you play Carroll, you have to try to engineer something vaguely resembling service - he received none - or be prepared to use him as battering ram - we scarcely did. We did however, look far more comfortable at the back on set pieces - which all went to pot with the sub.

Antonio was always going to come on at the hour, and his effect was largely that 15 minutes or so when he was fresh against a full back who'd already done 60-75 minutes.

We were evenly matched first half, shambolic for the first 15 of the second following the sub, and then grabbed two in two; they will think they were a bit complacent and loose thinking they'd already won the game.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

I like the 4-4-2 but it's clear it only works in certain situations. I do reckon once Lanzini returns we will continue playing that formation but it will be easier to switch during a match, something I don't think we are able to do right now.

i think it can work with Hernandez and Arnie as the latter can come deeper to link up the play and you still have Hernandez's movement ahead of him

It looked promising against Newcastle but then Arnie got injured against Cardiff and they have not had the chance to play together since

It is never going to work with Carroll and Arnoutovic and I would be amazed if we ever started with that combo again

[Colours never run]

No more 442 please, back to 4231.

4231 has been painful to watch in the past for us and rarely works well, often churning up a lot of awful disjointed football. We should however be resorting to the tried and tested 433 (I like a middle three of Rice, Noble, Obiang. 352 works well for what we have too.

Agreed regarding 442 though, it should be used more sparingly when the first XI are available and match fit. It's too demanding for the midfield otherwise to cope with covering the spaces left in the middle, especially when many teams flood the midfield with very little recovery time during the winter. He does like to use 442 a lot.

[Swiss Pauli]

If Pelle is going to play two big lads up front then we need to be more direct, like Burnley were where their front two were close together and looking to link up all the time. We didn't do that at all, so I blame the manager for our first half haplessness.

Brighton were targeting the back post on corners so why not put someone there?

Pelle redeemed his mistakes with the final two subs, but he needs to do better from the start.

[S-H]

If Pelle is going to play two big lads up front then we need to be more direct, like Burnley were where their front two were close together and looking to link up all the time. We didn't do that at all, so I blame the manager for our first half haplessness.

Brighton were targeting the back post on corners so why not put someone there?

Pelle redeemed his mistakes with the final two subs, but he needs to do better from the start.

The only mistakes he made were giving Carroll and Perez a chance to prove themselves instead of sticking an in form Antonio on from the start, and not starting Noble, other than that I think his options are limited with the amount of injuries we currently have not allowing him the luxury to rotate the squad as much as I'm sure he would have liked.

[bubbles1966]

There is a general lack of aerial ability in the team. Diop and Arnie punch well under their weight (height) in this respect.

We try to cut the numbers conceded by playing offside and hoping Fabianski will catch everything.

[sutts07]

I really hope he isn't too stubborn to revert back to the 4231 that was serving us so well.

His version of 442 only really works when you have two very dynamic centre forwards and when you are up against a below average opposition.

We are far too easy to overcome in the middle with just two in there.

Also, if we could spend a little bit of time learning how to defend a corner, that would be great.

[Colours never run]

Starts with 3 Forwards, go 2-0 down, early in 2nd half puts on 3 more forward thinking players, pull it back to 2-2 still pushing for a winner.

The bloke is a dream appointment for me when it comes to how I want the game played and my Team set-up playing to win. And regardless of where we have been in the table, or who we face it's been pretty much the same everytime we take to the field.

Breathe of fresh air the Club desperately needed.

[Colours never run]

Also, if we could spend a little bit of time learning how to defend a corner, that would be great.

I mentioned this at the beginning of the season after a handful of games and noticed then he prefers to zonal mark more thanan mark in the box and also resists having men on the posts which I've always been a big advocate of. It's just about the only real issue I have with Pellegrinisanagement so far but dealing with Corners is definitely one of them.

[prince_huggy]

https://www.premierleague.com/news/965105" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This link needs our attention. on the home page but didn't see a thread for it. It will work on multiple web browsers, so everyone let's get voting!

[Colours never run]

It would be outrageous if Klopp didn't win it.


*Votes Pellegrini anyway

[S-H]

No Way.

It's a curse.

*Votes for Klopp

[Ozza]

Got to love this bloke, despite the injury issues and the amount of games we’ve played over the last month he names a strong starting 11 against brum, can’t remember the last manager we had that really did that (but my memory is ****)

[StackerJJ]

Got to love this bloke, despite the injury issues and the amount of games we’ve played over the last month he names a strong starting 11 against brum, can’t remember the last manager we had that really did that (but my memory is ****)

Yes, it's like he is thinking how the majority of the fans think. He's taking every competition we're in with the same level of seriousness regardless of how paper thin his current squad is and the number of games.

Good on him and long may he build us.

[Travelling Hammer]

It's so good to have a manager that is brutal in his team selection.

I know injuries/fitness play a big part too but previous managers would have persevered with starting Perez and/or Carroll. And he hasn't. They've both been poor in last three games and he's acted accordingly, benching them. I personally get incredibly frustrated with out style of football when we have Carroll playing for long periods of a game and I hate it that when he's fit he normally goes straight into starting lineup.

Feel like we've had a bunch of players over the last few years that get in the team based on their name/how much they cost/just in the hope they'll come good eventually (Kovac, Feghouli, Zaza, Emenike, Yes we can blame Sullivan but I am really enjoying watching games, thinking a player should be subbed and by the end of the first half or 65 minutes, Pellers has generally made the change.

All for giving players a chance but form is king in my book

Can't underestimate the power in making players fight for their places based on their most recent performances.

[HammerMan2004]

I think we went back to 4-2-3-1 today when Arnie went off. Silva went wide left.

We didn’t look better than the 4-4-2 we started with.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

not having seen the u-23's but Silva looked a bit lost wide......

not sure if he plays up top for the u-23's or not...

thought he did okay, not as bright as Diagana on his debut though.....

[westham,eggyandchips]

Give him another £100m in the summer and you never know what this guy can do for our club.

[Ozza]

Give him another £100m in the summer and you never know what this guy can do for our club.

do you think the leeches will do that? I get the feeling with the recent accounts and noise from the club that the fan base is being conditioned away from another 100m push