Ian Wright has called upon West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini to “stand up” and transform the fortunes of his team.
The former Hammers striker and high-profile pundit claimed in the Sun that the Chilean must dip into his extensive experience to turn around what has been a wretched start to the campaign.
West Ham have lost all four matches to date and sit bottom of the Premier League table despite shelling out £100million on new players in the summer.
“Pellegrini, a man with huge experience all over the world, has to stand up and prove himself like the rest,” Wright said in the Sun. “I’m not saying he should be sacked or anything stupid like that. But sooner or later the buck stops with the manager.
“Now it’s up to him to show his coaching acumen, to come up with a system that stops them conceding so softly and get some belief back in his players.
“The owners kept their side of the bargain. Now Pellegrini and his players must do likewise. Those instruments didn’t come cheap — it’s about time he got a decent tune from them.”
OPINION
Given that he won a Premier League title at Manchester City and had impressive records of assembling fluent teams in major leagues, most notably in Spain, West Ham were right to think they had secure a major coup in landing Pellegrini in May. They paid through the nose for him, handing over a three-year contract that the Times report is worth up to £134,000-a-week. For that kind of outlay, coupled with the club-record spending spree this summer, West Ham and their supporters are right to expect a team capable of a securing a top-10 Premier League finish. They don’t want another season of scrapping and miserable football, like they were forced to endure under Slaven Bilic and David Moyes last season. But that is what is in store unless Pellegrini can coax a major improvement from a group of players who should be performing far better than they are.