Alan Shearer has stated that West Ham manager Slaven Bilic needs at least 10 games before the club can begin to review his future.
The Hammers have made a poor start to the new season and their league cup success over Cheltenham is their only positive so far.
They have lost all three of their Premier League games and are rock bottom of the table going into the international break.
The Londoners have played Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle away from home, with their ground not available until after the international break due to athletics.
West Ham’s poor start hit a new low on Saturday when they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 at Newcastle, with Joselu, Ciaran Clark and Aleksandar Mitrovic on the scoresheet.
Sky Sports have reported that the position of manager Bilic is under review following the loss at St James’ Park and his side’s poor beginning to the campaign.
However, Shearer insists that Bilic needs more time before being potentially sacked and reminded people they had a decent end to last season.
“I know they had a decent end to the season and I think they only lost one of their last seven at the end of last season and finished 11th,” Shearer told BBC One programme Match of the Day. “Yes he is under pressure but you can’t fire a manager after there or four games into the season. You need to give him 10 games at least and then you review it.”
OPINION
West Ham have made a dreadful start and rightfully fans are frustrated at manager Bilic, with his side’s defensive display particularly abysmal. However, they have played just three games this campaign and all of them have been away from home. There is no doubt that they need to improve quickly as they want to be competing in the top-half of the Premier League table. Bilic has previously shown that his West Ham side can play good football and they have made some impressive signings in the transfer window. Shearer is right that he should be given a few more games to turn it around and they do have some favourable fixtures coming up.