West Ham United defender Pablo Zabaleta has backed manager Manuel Pellegrini to navigate the team out of their current predicament.
The Hammers sit bottom of the Premier League table after four games despite investing heavily in the playing squad this summer.
But Zabaleta says they must not lose faith in the manager: “You trust in the way he works because of the teams he has worked with before,” he told the Sun. “The thing for Manuel is that for the first time maybe he doesn’t have the same quality in the team like he had before.”
“So maybe it will take more time than at other clubs for him to get everything right. At Manchester City there was so much quality, we won games easily. Here, it’s not the same.
“But he’s a great man, a good manager and will try to find the best way to get the results,” the Argentine finished.
OPINION
The recent outcry against Pellegrini has been quite stunning. We’re only four games into the new Premier League season and people are already calling for a title-winning manager to get the sack. It’s really quite ridiculous. Obviously no one expected West Ham to start this poorly after bringing Pellegrini in and signing a host of top draw players, but you cannot countenance getting rid of a manager this early in the season. Of course, Crystal Palace dumped Frank de Boer after four games last year and that worked out alright for them, but the Hammers board have just backed Pellegrini to the hilt in the transfer market. It makes no sense for them to boot him out now. Zabaleta is right, the Chilean’s record speaks for itself. Given time, he will be successful at the London Stadium. Supporters just need to be patient and support their team. They will be fine this year; sacking Pellegrini is not the answer.
