In a similar fashion to waiting for London buses, Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini finds himself with what will seem like three new signings when his side take on beleagured Neil Warnock's Cardiff City side this afternoon. The return to full fitness of Manuel Lanzini has already been well documented, Mikail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell both appear to be back to their previous heights and the "General' Fabian Balbuena is back after four months.
Quite how Pellegrini is going to handle his plethora of emerging talent is hard to imagine, but he has been there before and worn the T-shirt, however Hammers injury list which was almost catastrophic at one point will have been a real eye opener for the 65 year old Chilean and a situation he will hope to avoid next season. The odds on a similar situation occuring are way off, a betting person would do better trying their luck at www.slotwithbonus.com rather than predicting a repeat of this year's freak injury list.
Keeping a bunch of highly paid 'artistes' happy is part and parcel of the managerial game, it can be as daunting as coping with a huge injury list because apart from receiving massive rewards for playing, each player wants to be in the first team, and if not definitely to make the bench or failing that at least the match day squad.
Pellegrini's treatment of 'want away' striker Marko Arnautovic has been a pleasure to behold, the player's gradual re-introduction following his failed move to China and the injury he picked up has been 'tapered' by his manager. Arnie has found himself on the bench with Javier Hernandez being the preferred starting striker, a situation that the big Austrian's body and facial language clearly show is not to his liking.
There you go, if you throw your toys out of the pram, or even if your brother does so on your behalf, you will find that Mr Pellegrini takes a very dim view of such actions, and will sure as hell make sure you are not only sanctioned but given a proper lesson in respect. Normally when a 'top' player has a strop the manager is the one who pays the price, however this is not the case at West Ham, the board know 'El Pel' is a true professional and will back him to the hilt, therefore Arnautovic has been humbled without being totally embarrased.
Perhaps Sarri at Chelsea might want to take a leaf out of Pellegrini's book when it comes to 'dealing' with player power,
