OPINION
Manuel Pellegrini will be feeling very confident about his West Ham side after they secured their third league win in a row by beating Crystal Palace 3-2 on Saturday.
The veteran boss has every right to feel proud of his Hammers team as after a slow start to the season, they are clearly starting to click under his careful watch.
However Pellegrini has to heed former Hammers forward Marlon Harewood’s warning about the upcoming games with Fulham and Watford as it would be so typical of the club to suffer shock defeats in those outings.
“They should be very very confident but as we know in this situations, it’s hard to say as an ex-player, we always play good against top teams and it’s the teams that are round about us, surviving, trying to stay in the Premier League, they’re the games that mean more as they’re fighting for their lives and they need to up their tempo and this is where it will be a test for West Ham to get something out of these next two games,” said Harewood on Love Sport Radio, as heard in a clip via their official Twitter account.
The Hammers have had a tendency over the last few seasons to impress everyone by upsetting teams in the top-six by successfully overcoming them only to then slump to a defeat of their own courtesy of a relegation battler.
This typical pitfall that seems to affect the Hammers is one that frustrate fans to no end as just when you think the good times are occurring at the club, the rug is pulled from beneath their feet.
While it is a weird issue that has affected multiple West Ham’s squad over the years, Pellegrini needs to beware that it has tendency to happen.
The Hammers boss need to ensure that his now confident side don’t become complacent after achieving several positive results and excelling in the process as that seems to contribute to the London club suffering defeats out of nowhere.
Given that the Hammers’ next game is against Fulham, who are struggling beyond belief this season, then Pellegrini must act to protect his side against complacency.
This is especially the case when facing The Cottagers as after hiring Claudio Raineri the Hammers’ London rivals may spring into life and fulfil the potential their squad contains at any moment.
Losing to Fulham would be a potential momentum killer for the Hammers and would be a sign that Pellegrini’s side still fall into its usual pitfalls that have seen other manager’s taste defeat with their teams.
This all means that Pellegrini must take Harewood’s advice seriously if he wants to dodge a situation where fans are bemoaning that the club never changes.
