Former Premier League striker Dimitar Berbatov has said that he has heard West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is a great man manager and attributed the club’s recent success to his abilities at motivating the team.
The Hammers picked up their third win of the season with a pulsating 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday, Robert Snodgrass, Javier Hernandez and Felipe Anderson netting the all important goals for the Irons.
After what he deemed an “awful” start to the season, Berbatov picked out the talents of Pellegrini as crucial to their turnaround in form, revealing what he has head about the Chilean’s impact behind-closed-doors.
He told Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday show (09/12, 11:47): “They did start awful. Now everybody’s happy and three wins in a row is a great achievement.
“From what I know and hear Pellegrini is a great manager and a guy who knows how to speak with his players and this is what you need in modern football now, a psychologist (to) know how to activate your players.
“Everybody’s different (but) this is what he is doing.”
Opinion
Only Pellegrini and the players know what happens behind closed doors at the London Stadium but whatever it is, the manager should not stop any time soon. The Hammers have looked like a completely different side in recent weeks compared to how they were playing at the start of the season and it seems as though the boss has finally got his squad to click. Is that from finding his best formation and best starting XI? Possibly, but at the same time many of these players were the ones struggling to make an impact in the early weeks of the campaign. Instead it looks like the manager has managed to instil some all important confidence into his stars and it making all the difference. What Berbatov seems to have heard might well be true and the Irons faithful will be hoping that the bubble does not burst any time soon.