Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham United’s 17th manager

[Diogenes]

I actually wanted Moyes to stay and give us some stability. However, to be fair to Pellergrini, I am happy with his appointment and progress. Considering he has had a crippling injury list most of the season and his (arguably) 'star' player throwing a mid season strop, I am more than happy with what he is trying to do. I like the way he is trying to get us to play and the 'winner', 'big club' mentality he is attempting to instil.

He also appears to be ready to give youth a chance and drop players out the squad (not just to the bench) if they need a kick up the arse. I generally understand his tactics and substitutions (which I never did under Bilic) even if I don't agree with them.

So, if he can get 2 or 3 very good players (who he wants) and improve the injury situation in the squad I would hope for a further improvement next year. Our league, at the moment, is between 7th and 12th so 7th/8th I would see as achievable and a realistic goal.

[funky chicken]

Great end to the season and this season has absolutely gone down as a success now we have finished in the top 10, with more points, better goal difference, good promising football.

Although taking us our 3rd season at our new 60,000 seater stadium to even just finish in the top 10 is utterly pathetic and sums up what a bad job our owners have done up until now.

Unlike last season we have finished above sh*t, or smaller clubs, arrogant or not, that we should be finishing above: Palace, Bournemouth & even Watford.

The clubs outside the top 6 that finished above us are at least either big clubs, or have chucked more money at their squads than us: Everton, Wolves, Leicester.

The Wimbledon defeat really did spoil it a bit.

Big summer window ahead for Mr. Pellegrini as we need to be aiming to be a lot closer in the fight for a top 7 place.

Don't stitch another manager up Sully on his 2nd season! Back him to the full and give him all the money he needs. Otherwise if you thought the abuse you got at home to Burnley last season from the fans was bad, that'll just be the tip of the ice berg.

[hammer1975]

+
His signings have all contributed in some way
He’s consistently got the team to play the same style
He’s got a tune from a few players who were expected to be moved on due to lack of quality

-
Formation and subs are baffling at times
He seems unable to get us to consistently start both halves well

It seems fairly obvious that a couple of decent additions to the current team would have been worth the points to finish higher.

However, other teams will strengthen in the summer too. As good a job as he’s done we need to strengthen considerably again in the summer - progression remains dependent on good recruitment, and good recruitment is more likely with sufficient funds.

[Ironing Board]

Finished with a flourish - looking forward to seeing if he can build on this slightly improved season. Will be an interesting challenge with the likes of Watford, Everton and Leicester all sure to be pushing on over the summer.

[S-H]

slightly improved season

[Ironing Board]

That’s big praise :lol:

[Ironing Board]

Depending on how you look at it, we are 10 points, three wins and a draw better off than last season. Which is not a major improvement given the 100M investment.

However you can also see we are 22% or so better, and top 10 which is definite progress. Next season will be the key for Pell-Boy, and his ultimate standing in the pantheon of managers.

[TommyHammer]

Typical that we hit good form as the season ends. I think the last month, with the injured players coming back, has give us a real insight in to how Pellegrini wants us to play football. Have absolute faith in the bloke to do whats needed this summer to REALLY get us to play how he wants us to play.

10 points better off than last season despite a nightmare start and in the top half of the league. I give the bloke a 7/10.

Onwards and upwards (hopefully)

[Crouchend_Hammer]

B grade for me
When we had majority of squad available and competition across most positions we probably got as many points as any team outside the top six

All these players were injured for at least two months ato a time:
Balbuena
Hernandez
Fredericks
Yarmalenko
Lanzini
Wilshire
Sanchez

Not too mention Carroll, Reid and Nasri

And of course Arnoutovic and his disruption

[swash]

Just a C from me, much appreciate the more entertaining football, but too many times we just didn't turn up against the lesser teams, and the Wimbledon game was unforgivable

[The Old Man of Storr]

Lost his first four matches with some posters predicting he'd be gone by Christmas -
Liverpool , Bournemouth , Arsenal and Wolves all put us to the sword , then came Everton , Chelsea and Manchester United , we had 7 points on the Board .
Ok , we lost our next 2 games but apart from Manchester City we then went 7 games undefeated until we met today's opponents . We looked brilliant one week then couldn't get going the next , I'm sure it'll be something that Manuel Pellegrini will be looking to put right next season .

Considering he had 11 players out injured at one point with our Hammer Of The Year of last season having a wobble around Christmas time I thought Pellegrini did extremely well - he just needs to be given free rein this summer to get in the players he wants then I see us making progress .

A-

[Marky]

Just a C from me, much appreciate the more entertaining football, but too many times we just didn't turn up against the lesser teams, and the Wimbledon game was unforgivable

And me down to Wimbledon principally. With Wolves Away, Burnley Away and Cardiff Away being 3 of the worst performances I have ever seen (the first 2 in person)

[Patito]

A- for me as well.Wimbledon cup match has to go down as a black mark against him. The team he put out was easily strong enough to win that but we didn't. Wolves, Burnley and Cardiff away were shockers, Burnley away was one of the least enjoyable away days I've ever had, they could have hit us for 5/6.

Plenty of plus points for me though. I believe we are really heading in the right direction now. A top 10 finish playing decent football, 4 at the back after a complete squad overhaul and having numerous key players miss massive chunks of the season is a really solid first season in my opinion. We've also had some outstanding results and performances, particularly against the bigger teams as well as making history at the north London khazi.

If our recruitment is spot on we should be best of the rest next season, or perhaps even more....

In El Pel we trust

[e17]

He’s had to contest with a season where 2 of the 19 teams we’ve played have basically been unbeatable, and top flight football as a whole (the elite 6 especially) has begun to push most logical football supporters to their breaking point.

Despite that, he’s given us 5 or 6 good days.

[S-H]

I went for C+ only because there's room for improvement, the cups were a disappointment, as was the lack of consistency, at our worst we have been terrible, but on the whole it looks like we have an identity of play for the first time in donkeys years, the style of play when we turn it on is superb, his faith in the youngsters is a massive plus, coping as he did with the massive injury list was a credit to his managerial abilities too. A proper manager.

The only way he gets near an A next year is if we go deeper into the cups and qualify for the Europa League.

Overall really happy with how things are looking, on the pitch at least.

[hammerman11]

with a fit squad we arnt far off but all teams will strengthen so we must do more than everton Leicester wolves to get above them.

new reserve GK - mick pope from burnley. behind hart there so maybe fancies being a number two again and he will note fab has 2-3 good years left in him so has a good chance to progress.

RB fredericks and Johnson for me. john son did well against city and I believe can play both fullback roles. zab is too slow and not sure why we kept him on unless they are unsure on fredericks fitness wise !

masuaka is the LB of choice now and roumours that kourtis is on his way. sell cresswell for 5-10m

CB diop Balbuena are the first choixe with ogbonna as reserve. reid is unknown re fitness so marzipan coming in makes sense giving us four good ones.

DM - hayden, tielemans or another is desperately needed. obiang to be sold 10m. It also looks like fernandez will stay in Italy and I expect a 8m fee for him. would have kept him but its unlikely he will stay.

CF - another majot area where we need to recruit well. we should sell Hernandez 10m and perez 5m . carroll is released from his sick bed. so 3 out and 2 in I would suggest. gomez and another nippy mobile player like abrahams or delafou at watford.

further sales/release of Adrian, oxford 5m, makasi, samuelson, haksagbonovic and nasri.

next year we will need to replace sanchez zabaleta snodgrass ogbonna and noble . So we cant afford to stand still this summer or next. we have taken a small step forward and I am hopeful for next season but only IF pelle gets back in the market ! a BIG IF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NW5hammer]

I think that he's done better than the stats alone suggest. As people have said he has had injury problems, less money than teams like Wolves, and disruptions. Clearly he is setting us up to play at a level and style that will need at least four more quality players to move us towards a serious 6/7th place challenge which is a rational goal. At times it has been frustrating and disappointing but it's a tough division. When it's been good it's been at a higher quality than I can remember for many years. I just hope he gets the backing this summer.

[James P]

Personally I can’t ever really have any complaints about a season where we finish top half and accrue 50+ points and score 50+ goals. Placed against the backdrop of our injury problems too and Pellegrini gets a lot of credit from me. The reckless and unnecessary gamble in the FA Cup is a blot on his copybook but let’s move on and learn from it and hope it doesn’t happen again.

[hawkins_hammer]

If we hadn't faffed around with 4-4-2 at times we would be watching European football next season. That's both a complement and a criticism of Pellegrini. With the right investment I have the faith in him to take us there next year.

[Sloop John B]

Considering the first 4 games, the key injuries and the amount of games when we just didn't show up... I think there's cause for optimism for the future.

A few seasons of slow and steady improvements with the sort of football we've seen this season would be very much appreciated