Clean Sweep To Follow The Axe At Pellegrini's West Ham

Following on from the 'Axeman cometh' headlines since Saturday's defeat against Bournemouth, it is now being claimed that Manuel Pellegrini is preparing to make as many as five or six changes as he attempts to make a clean sweep of what many have percieved to be his plan (A), are these the actions of a new manager already hitting the panic button or those of an experienced professional merely sorting the wheat from the chaff?

Two games in it is hardly fair or indeed realistic to judge how well Manuel Pellegrini is doing, but the Premier League isn't fair or forgiving in the slightest, it's the toughest dog eat dog league in the World which is why so many people around the Globe pay to watch it! What is clear is that the new manager hasn't found the correct balance for his team as yet, it is one thing playing friendlies and entirely different partaking in competitive matches, the midfield and defence have come under more scrutiny than the Tesla files in the last few days!

Pellegrini does have plenty of options, maybe too many, for those on the outside looking in he has virtually two different teams to choose from, perhaps therein lies the problem. If he selected his team based soley on performance and potential as opposed to past and pride, his starting eleven could feature as many as six players who were either not at the club or had not featured regularly in the past. To make widespread changes to the starting line up could be considered to be a risk, but Pellegrini has to do something the turn the tide and his possible line up could be Fabianski, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Obiang, Wilshere, Anderson, Yarmolenko, Arnoutovic. That would mean benching or not even selecting for the Squad Zabaleta, Balbuena, Masuaku, Noble, Snodgrass and Chicharito.

Zabaleta probably doesn't deserve to be dropped and could be retained instead of Fredericks due to his big game experience, but the rest can have little reason for bemoaning their situation, it is not as if they haven't been given their chances. It seems absurd so early into the season but they are already drinking at the last chance saloon, how times have changed? The most successful domestic manager in recent history was given years not weeks to establish himself when he took over Manchester United, but then again it was before the Premier League had been formed wasn't it, a sign of the times?- Ed