Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham United’s 17th manager

[Ironing Board]

THe ability to find the right good players for your system (or adjust your system to the players) is the most important.

One of Pelle's problems is.... he doesn't have the players to do what he wants, he can't play 2 up top without the defense collapsing, but when he tries to play more defensively, well then we can't score. His ideal formation puts a lot of pressure on the CM to be standouts... our CM is our weakest position. And, without a pacy forward (Antonio is as close as we have) he can't even play a more defensive system effectively, because we can't counter effectively. He hasn't covered himself in glory, but a few transfer misses, and injury have put him in a tough spot as well. Even just having a healthy Wilshere (though his injuries are inevitable and should be planned around) would do wonders.

Not the ideal manager for our squad then?

[Cellar-door]

Not the ideal manager for our squad then?

To be honest, there is no ideal manager for our squad, nobody plays a system that doesn't need CMs. The question is, do we want to keep building what he has started, or burn it down and start over.... again.

[chigwells finest]

its a house of cards anyway , he played a gk who was allergic to catching a football, a pedestrian rb , against the fastest winger in the league , still resolute in the fact that he thinks yarmolenko will put in a shift on the right wing , whilst a player of ours tears up the league below with his pace , leaves a marquee signing striker abandoned to the extent he may as well be robinson crusoe . , dropped our most inform cb , the list can go on and on

[The Green Man]

I feel like we've been unlucky with the injuries he's had since he joined.

Fabianski injury has been brutal for our form. Antonio injury has stopped Haller in his tracks. Lanzini injury (last years and this years) seems to have shown us to be very light in the middle in terms of creativity.

Still, he hasn't covered himself in glory but I genuinely don't think another available manager would have done any better with the current squad. He clearly got shafted as he brought in very cheap replacements for what are actually very important positions (GK and DM) as he likely got told we couldn't splash out after shelling out for Haller..

I think Fornals will eventually come good and Haller looked a class above initially when he had people running off him.

[Aceface]

If I was picking the probable outcome of the next month it would be 7 points in the next 3 and then Fabianski back the next game against Leicester (which we'll probably lose).

This season has been a crushing disappointment in terms of the gate being open but us not being ready to take advantage of it – will we ever see Man Utd, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal play like midtable sides in the same season again? – but in terms of it being anything much different than most of our own seasons I don't think it is. If you remove the Roberto fixtures our points accumulation has been at a decent clip in the rest.

[Burnley Hammer]

Still, he hasn't covered himself in glory but I genuinely don't think another available manager would have done any better with the current squad. He clearly got shafted as he brought in very cheap replacements for what are actually very important positions (GK and DM) as he likely got told we couldn't splash out after shelling out for Haller..

Whilst I agree that this is a possibility, it's not a fact. I think it's equally likely that he put far too much faith in Wilshere (he bigged him up on several occasions towards the end of last season and in the summer) and thought that in Wilshere, Noble, Sanchez, Snodgrass, and Rice, he was well stocked in that area and could afford to spend a bit of money on a more creative type in Fornals. It could also be that Snodgrass was actually Obiangs replacement and Fornals was bought to take Snodgrass's old role as a more attacking midfielder/winger.

[Knighter10WHU]

I feel like we've been unlucky with the injuries he's had since he joined.

Isn't it always the case with this club? Anyone who knows the history of WHU over the past 10 years will know our injury record is appalling. Either you come in and sort the medical situation to prevent all the injuries or if we are just unlucky you have to buy more players and get a deeper squad. Relying on Fabianski to be fit and 1 of Antonio or Haller to be fit and playing well was always going to be dangerous. Not to mention what would happen if Rice got injured.

Pellegrini/Husillos have done nothing to resolve this problem - you make your own luck.

[chigwells finest]

every club has injuries , but his insistence on playing some players clearly out of form / depth will be his undoing .50k supporters can see whats right/wrong why cant he ?

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

From BBC football gossip

West Ham will try to sell 33-year-old Spanish goalkeeper Roberto in January and part ways with the director of football who brought him to the club in the summer.

Was Husillos Pellegrini's choice? Would getting rid of him for presumably a much smaller payoff force Pellegrini's hand?

[Crouchend_Hammer]

If I was picking the probable outcome of the next month it would be 7 points in the next 3 and then Fabianski back the next game against Leicester (which we'll probably lose).

This season has been a crushing disappointment in terms of the gate being open but us not being ready to take advantage of it – will we ever see Man Utd, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal play like midtable sides in the same season again? – but in terms of it being anything much different than most of our own seasons I don't think it is. If you remove the Roberto fixtures our points accumulation has been at a decent clip in the rest.

I forgot we had Southampton and Palace before Leicester
If we can pick up 4 points before the turn of the year I think we will be ok from a relegation perspective

[Brown Sauce]

I think Mario Husillos has gone.

[Pob!]

I forgot we had Southampton and Palace before Leicester
If we can pick up 4 points before the turn of the year I think we will be ok from a relegation perspective

Just goes to show how low we set the bar now, hoping for 4 points from the scummers and Nigels.

So so sad.

[Clacton-ammer]

Just goes to show how low we set the bar now, hoping for 4 points from the scummers and Nigels.

So so sad.

Or maybe showing humility, Palace are in very good form. One thing the PL does tell you, bar one team currently everyone can take points off each other.

[chigwells finest]

he just needs to up his game , stop sending out teams that roll over for the league

[One Peter Butler]

he just needs to up his game , stop sending out teams that roll over for the league

I agree with that but he is the underlying problem in that he seems to roll over himself all too easily. Teams generally reflect their managers in my view.

[Pob!]

Or maybe showing humility, Palace are in very good form. One thing the PL does tell you, bar one team currently everyone can take points off each other.

Humility!? Hahahaha, you're funny...

[umweb]

while i was really happy when he became our new manager, i'm not sure how much farther he can take us.

it seems like we don't practice throw-ins, crosses or corners. we are too slow to switch to attack once we win the ball back. when we do have the ball, not enough players seem to be aware to help each other out. it's bizarre. i could go on, but you get the idea. to me, this all points to the manager, but the only thing keeping him in a job is the lack of other options.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

...............................

the only thing keeping him in a job is the cost of replacing him.

[goa127]

The lack of options is the real issue here. The only manager I would have faith in would be Benitez, but his football may well be drab. There's a lot of talk about £12m compensation, but as their season is just finishing and I've heard they're doing badly I suspect they may be happy to see him go. I would like pellers to stay, but if we were to drop into the bottom 3 then it's likely to be adios

[Beavis Danzig]

i hope no one complaining about haller looking isolated is advocating rafa or moyes. the rest of our team would have to go through customs to cross the halfway line.