When Manuel Pellegrini became West Ham United manager he immediately set about completely revamping the squad, so many new players arrived it was obviously going to take time for them to gell. At the time Pellegrini's wisdom of bringing so many new players in at once was questioned, however with Hammers now looking towards European qualification despite having eight players currently sidelined. If the squad assembled had not had so much strength in depth things would have been completely different.
Ahead of next saturday's game against Watford at the London Stadium, players and fans alike are beginning to believe and buy in to Pellegrini's blue print for success, the style of football being played is very pleasing on the eye and dare we say it is very much in keeping with that mythical beast 'the West Ham Way'. Speaking of mythical beasts, Andy Carroll got more game time and looked to be moving better than he has for ages, there have been so many false dawns with regards to his fitness but maybe the perpetually injured baton has now been passed on to Jack Wilshere.
Strength in depth is one thing, but with so many players out injured there is very little left in the cupboard, Carlos Sanchez and Yarmolenko are unlikely to return this season while there are also doubts regarding if Manuel Lanzini and Ryan Fredericks will be available this season. Luca Perez is expected to return before the end of the month while Winston Reid and Marko Arnautovic are expected to return in January. Reid has almost become the forgotten man at the club, he was once an indispensable member of the first team but would be hard pushed to displace either Issa Diop or Fabian Balbuena, he has had a torrid time with injuries which he has picked up on an accelerating basis in the last few seasons.
Manuel Pellegrini may well bring in a 'couple' of players during the January window, but as good deals are hard to come by they will be loanees at best, hopefully Hammers injury scourge will finally abate leaving Pellegrini with the rather pleasant problem of keeping everone happy, as he will have a surfeit of talent at his disposal. - Ed
Comments
I dont think
El Pel will lose any sleep over who or who does not start as he made it a big thing that he is building a Squad not a team and who plays one week to the next is entirely up to him...in other words if you dont pull your finger out and perform week in week out then you are benched no matter who you are... how refreshing indeed that is
Maybe, just maybe our bench
Maybe, just maybe our bench was better than some give it credit. After all what other team could put pele on their bench!
Can't speak for anyone else
Can't speak for anyone else but we have made huge strides this season compared to the last 2! I've gone on record as saying I won't be satisfied if we aren't being entertaining, well now we seem safe on that account with pell. We also have an added bonus of trying and succeeding on winning games. To mould so many new players into his format is no mean feat either. Having said that we do need to make further strides defensively especially but the playing side is safe and in good hands at last! Let's hope he gets another decent war chest in July. If so it's exciting times ahead of us.
I'd safely say it's nob's
I'd safely say it's nob's last season as automatic choice ,he can be so effective one game and the next his legs go ,I still can't figure out our injury problems ,what ever it is it's relentless in it's persuit of us are ,every time someone goes down you automatic ly fear the worst ,I can't think of another team that suffers with the same problem ,look at that bunch of ponces from North London it's like the same 11 week after week ,last time Kane was sidelined it was for an ingrowning toenail ,it seems that Lanzini has been out for 2years and Yarm till the end of the season ??? .
Just to Finish I'm afraid I smell a rat re: Arnie ,bit convenient isn't it? Out for a month which brings us nicley into the window ,you can almost hear the conversation between Mourinio and Pel "ok we'll go to 50 mill but he better not get done up "
a few
have said that Burkie but why worry we have already proved we can win without him so lets wait n see
I think Pellegrinis magic
I think Pellegrinis magic barnet is showing the fans the value of an adaptive squad, he did this to take Citeh to the title with world class players. By association we are reaping the benefits of his Football ethos - long may it continue...
Steve Mclaren
is most jealous of El Pels barnet
I don't think we need to
I don't think we need to worry about arnie. Nothing like a good conspiracy theory but mourinho won't be at mu in January. As for playing 2 upfront yes I agree but it's good to have a plan b, maybe just when we play top teams? Itl fit well in a rotation system if we ever get enough players fit!