Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham United’s 17th manager

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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Vic_Watson »

Good article apart from "some of the senior players had already given up the ghost". Things are not quite that bad...yet!
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Puff Daddy »

GreenIron wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 2:07 pm Good article in The Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... er-manuel/

The last sentence says it all really.

West Ham will not have played a game for 12 days come Boxing Day, and who knows what the club will look like when it emerges at Selhurst Park. New manager? Same problems? Sitting precariously above the relegation zone, they are the Premier League’s most expensively acquired faulty set of fairy lights, wrapped around a rapidly-shedding garage-forecourt tree.

The Manuel Pellegrini regime already feels like a memory, a man waiting for the notification that says he can proceed to his departure gate. We thank Manuel for his work. The club will make no further comment at this time. The Pellegrini era was supposed to transform the club and yet it has delivered 18 months that have been quintessentially West Ham: a tenth place finish, some fleeting moments for celebration, early cup exits and a relegation battle.

In short, majority owners David Sullivan and David Gold and vice-chairman Karren Brady are back where they have been before. The difference being it has cost the club more than any of its other eras of mediocrity, not least in the wages of Brady who commanded a £438,000 bonus on top of her £898,000 salary when the club announced annual profits of £17.3 million last January despite widespread fan revolt in that period.
Waffling about “leadership” in her column in The Sun two weekends ago, Brady described Pellegrini as “a proven winner in this league with an unshakable determination”. No real insight as to what West Ham saw in the terse old boy who, until the club came knocking, was one of a number of high-profile coaches who had taken a sudden and unexpected interest in the highly lucrative Chinese Super League. The club could be spending Christmas in the relegation zone if they lose to Southampton on Saturday.

Pellegrini was a strange choice for a club seeking a full cultural upgrade after the troubled 2017-2018 season. While other clubs have sought out younger coaches such as Graham Potter and Dean Smith, both rewarded with new contracts this month, West Ham opted for the bigger reputation. Pellegrini is amiable enough around the training ground, although questions have been asked around the club about the level of analysis that goes into the opposition and generally the communication with the players is kept short.

The recruitment has been even worse. Their £45 million record signing Sebastien Haller started on the bench against Arsenal and in the victory over Chelsea, their only win in ten league games. It has gradually dawned that the conditions that allowed the striker to flourish at Eintracht Frankfurt have not been replicated at West Ham. In Germany he played with quick players around him, including Luka Jovic and Ante Rebic. There is a notable lack of pace at West Ham unless it is the willing Michail Antonio, recently returned from injury, whom Pellegrini has of late preferred to Haller.

No real pace in an attack that includes Felipe Anderson, bought for £35 million, Andriy Yarmolenko for £17.5 million, or Pablo Fornals for £25 million. It is almost as if this was a squad put together by a director of football with little experience of the Premier League, which is exactly what happened when Pellegrini insisted on the appointment of Mario Husillos, who in turn made his son Mario junior a senior scout at the club. Aside from Declan Rice, the development of younger players has stalled and a club famous for its production line has less joined up thinking between academy and first team than the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal.

In the summer of last year West Ham sold 20-year-old Domingues Quina to Watford, a European champion at Under-17s and Under-19s level with Portugal, and signed Carlos Sanchez and Jack Wilshere. Both highly-paid, barely-used and often injured. A triumph of short-term priorities over long-term planning even given Quina’s injuries. The club’s Under-23s captain Conor Coventry, 19, a Republic of Ireland Under-21, has fallen into a contract stand-off. Another academy graduate, Nathan Holland, 21, has come on recently against Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers but only when defeat was inevitable and some of the senior players had already given up the ghost.

What is the long-term vision for West Ham under Sullivan and Gold? Their big play was Pellegrini and it has failed. With shrewd recruitment and development of younger players, West Ham would be well placed to be the best outside the conventional big six although this is hardly the ownership’s first attempt at change. It says something that, in a season that has featured the worst Arsenal side in recent memory and Tottenham Hotspur having to sack their most successful manager in a generation, West Ham have still conspired to be worse than both of them.

There are some promising young players coming out of the club, including Grady Diangana, 21, one of the Championship’s breakout stars this season on loan with Slaven Bilic at West Bromwich Albion. Josh Cullen, 23, is a regular on loan at Charlton Athletic.

Yet there is little evidence that Pellegrini or Husillos were looking much further than spending the available funds. The academy has lost staff including its director Terry Westley, who departed in the summer for a job with the Japan Football Association. So too, the Under-23s coach Liam Manning, now at New York City, as well as key scouting staff.

As for what remains, it is hard to trust a manager and a director of football who between them took eight games and 20 goals conceded this season to recognise that goalkeeper Roberto was a problem. The club have another little gem in Amadou Diallo, the 16-year-old England Under-17 international who is already in the Under-23s side and will require careful nurturing through the next few years to reach first team standard.

But what sort of first team? Now West Ham find themselves in the classic managerial death-spiral of disenchanted underperforming players who will be expensive to remove. It needs a fresh start, new direction and a vision for the club but why would you trust the same people to deliver it?
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

S-H wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:23 pm It's my 7th favourite thing, about this site.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by jastons »

Vic_Watson wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 4:10 pm Good article apart from "some of the senior players had already given up the ghost". Things are not quite that bad...yet!
Did you see our capitulation against Arsenal?
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Vic_Watson »

jastons wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:43 pm Did you see our capitulation against Arsenal?
Yes mate. What's your point?
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Depressed Hammer »

Watching the team is like groundhog day lately. Very predictable system with predictable players. Watching todays press conf. i can understand why this is. Pellegrini,s press conf,s are the same over and over. So in training i doubt anything different is going to happen or change in order to fight relegation.
The same replies over and over.





We need to return to a consistent , solid team he said.
Well it would be appreciated if you could share how that is going to be achieved mate .
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Condorhammer »

Puff Daddy » Thu Dec 12, 2019 4:14 pm

That's a quality article, I wonder if the worm's beginning to turn with regard to the press' attitude towards the 3 shits?
Hopefully young Jacob will follow suit.
Perhaps Sam Wallace is someone HU could approach?
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by miles »

There's nothing left to do but cling on to hope. Come on Pellers.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Humbug »

This says it all by MP

"I always think as a manager that the results of the team depend on the individual performances of the players. After that you can work a lot on tactical and physical and technical work, but the players decide the games. Of course, when you have important players who are not in their best moments, the results of the team will not be good. We must find and we must try to work with them and give them confidence. I hope that they will return as soon as possible to their normal performances."

So can we assume that he doesn't bother with tactics until the individuals are performing better? Looks to me that he is shifting the blame onto the players and I suspect they are doing vice versa blaming MP for their poor performances.

I don't like the word 'hope' , because that is not what I'd expect from a so called top manager earning over £7m pa.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by jastons »

Vic_Watson wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:49 pm Yes mate. What's your point?
To me it looked like senior players downed tools after 60 minutes.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by S-H »

Humbug wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:24 pm This says it all by MP

"I always think as a manager that the results of the team depend on the individual performances of the players. After that you can work a lot on tactical and physical and technical work, but the players decide the games. Of course, when you have important players who are not in their best moments, the results of the team will not be good. We must find and we must try to work with them and give them confidence. I hope that they will return as soon as possible to their normal performances."
Throwing his players under the bus..
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Puff Daddy »

Humbug wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:24 pm This says it all by MP

"I always think as a manager that the results of the team depend on the individual performances of the players. After that you can work a lot on tactical and physical and technical work, but the players decide the games. Of course, when you have important players who are not in their best moments, the results of the team will not be good. We must find and we must try to work with them and give them confidence. I hope that they will return as soon as possible to their normal performances."

So can we assume that he doesn't bother with tactics until the individuals are performing better? Looks to me that he is shifting the blame onto the players and I suspect they are doing vice versa blaming MP for their poor performances.

I don't like the word 'hope' , because that is not what I'd expect from a so called top manager earning over £7m pa.
His normal superficial, meaningless, prosaic claptrap, I gave up on weeks ago. He never has anything new, or purposeful to say about anything
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by brothernero »

jastons wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:26 pm To me it looked like senior players downed tools after 60 minutes.

Sadly I have to agree, once Arsenal got their first goal our players heads all dropped and they looked like they wanted to be any where else but on that pitch.

Often a sign that the players have stopped believing in the manager.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Ozza »

Is it?

I thought it was about confidence which is a huge factor in football
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by brothernero »

They won away at Chelsea, then put in very poor performances and effort versus Wolves and a woeful Arsenal. If winning away to Chelsea cant get your confidence levels back up then I don't know what will.

To me and it's just my take on things they are playing like a team who has no faith in the manager and are just waiting for the new guy to come in.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Ozza »

Doesn’t make sense though, you’re not playing for the manager but you win at Chelsea.

Confidence is much more fickle

I don’t think he’s lost the changing room, although I don’t think that they have anything in them when we concede. I’ve seen the same thing so many times at West Ham over the years.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Mikloskosglovebag »

Karen Brady using the words ‘unshakable determination in a sentance with Pelligrini is one of the most bizarre things I have read for a while! She should pay $450,000 damages just for that comment, make up for her ridiculous bonus.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Mikloskosglovebag »

80k a month is outrageous for a less then part time job in a mid-table prem club. Is that how much it costs these days to have connections to get a crappy claret pitch thing approved? Great article, really laid Brady flat with that one.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by Hammer in Hornchurch »

The players must fall asleep in his team talks.
So dull and unmotivated.
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Re: Manuel Pellegrini West Ham United’s 17th manager

Post by brooking_1980 »

He's a beautiful manager, he understands football and can deliver positive, entertaining and exciting football.

The fact he's not been able, is wholly down to the poisonous Board who undermine him at any chance possible. They are ultimately two-faced as they delay and delay his termination payout.
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