OPINION
Manuel Pellegrini has to axe West Ham midfielder Pedro Obiang as soon as possible as he continued to experience a nightmare when playing Manchester City on Saturday.
As of late nothing seems to be going right for the 26-year-old, who earns £55,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), and he is continuing to submit performances that are well below par.
Obiang is clearly trying to do well for the Hammers as at times during the 4-0 defeat to Man City, he was clearly putting himself about to help his side’s cause.
However it just wasn’t working out and Pep Guardiola’s fantastic side were able to work around him.
If this was the only game Obiang had struggled in as of late it would be fair enough, but the central midfielder didn’t exactly knock it out of the park against Huddersfield Town or Burnley.
The Spanish midfielder just seems to be having a nightmare as of late as despite his best efforts, it’s just not clicking for him.
Pellegrini’s options in midfield are limited when it comes to replacing Obiang but he simply has to axe him as soon as he deems it possible.
A spell on the sidelines may end the player’s horror show and see him able to get his act together once called into action again.
The Hammers boss could look to replace Obiang with Robert Snodgrass for the upcoming Newcastle United clash, as the Scotland international is available after suspension but he might not be keen on doing that.
Firstly Snodgrass is an okay choice to play in the centre of midfield due to his workrate but it’s clearly not his best position.
Also Pellegrini may not instantly want to put a recently suspended player back into his team in order to send a clear message about the consequences of a poor disciplinary record.
The other obvious option Pellegrini could look to is Jack Wilshere as according to the London Evening Standard the summer recruit is on course to be fit enough to make the squad for the trip to St James Park.
Yet once again the Hammers manager may not be able to put Wilshere in for Obiang for the Newcastle clash from the start as he needs to be careful regarding how quickly he puts the injury-prone midfield back in the fold.
With this in mind while Pellegrini’s hands may be tied due to his options, he needs to axe Obiang as soon as he can because otherwise the player’s nightmare will just keep going if he doesn’t.
