OPINION
Alan Shearer appraisal of Tottenham’s performance against West Ham proves that Manuel Pellegrini’s revolution at the London Stadium is underway.
The BBC pundit heaped praise on several Spurs players following their 1-0 win over the Hammers but claimed that Mauricio Pochettino’s side needed to show character to overcome their rivals.
“They showed their character at West Ham on Saturday, a ground where Chelsea and United have already dropped points this season,” wrote Shearer for his column in The Sun.
“Spurs did not have it all their own way at the London Stadium and when they came under pressure in the second half it was like, ‘OK, what have you got?’.
“But they showed some balls.”
While the Hammers may have been disappointed to leave the London Stadium with zero points on Saturday, Shearer’s assessment of Spurs clearly shows the progress their opponents on Saturday have made in recent weeks.
Pochettino’s side were made to up their game and work hard for their points, which shows the tough fight the Hammers put up.
When you go back to the opening day performance of the Hammers against Liverpool or their display against Wolves, then it shows the effect Pellegrini is having and how everything is clicking into place.
The Reds weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders when they hosted the Hammers on the opening day of the Premier League but they were able to cruise to a 4-0 win without getting out of third gear.
The same could be said for Wolves, as they hardly had to break a sweat and everything was easy for them when it came to them achieving a narrow 1-0 victory over Pellegrini’s side.
Yet Shearer’s assessment of Spurs clearly showed they had to give everything they had, at least in terms of efforts, in order to achieve a victory over the Hammers.
While some may look to the victory over Manchester United or the draw with Chelsea as being the justification that the Pellegrini’s era was underway, it wasn’t until Saturday that the Hammers showed fight after going behind.
Pellegrini’s side kept going until the very end like they previously hadn’t after falling behind and while Spurs got all three points from the clash with the Hammers, there is many reasons to be positive about what the future holds at the London Stadium.
