OPINION
West Ham United slumped to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night courtesy of a controversial penalty decision.
Despite the defeat, the Hammers still sit in tenth place in the Premier League on 36 points, but in order to overcome Newcastle this Saturday, boss Manuel Pellegrini will have to make four changes to the starting line up.
The midfield and attack were largely underwhelming, and these are the areas that the manager must focus on ahead of the weekend.
In goal, Lukasz Fabianski must start as normal.
The defence coped very well with the onslaught of City’s attack, especially the likes of young right-back Ben Johnson, who was thrown into the deep end by playing out of position on the left. This is why keeping the back unchanged must be a no-brainer.
However, the first change must come in the central midfield, where Pedro Obiang was in rather bad form and could not keep hold of the ball. The abysmal £55,000-a-week [Spotrac] player must be axed in favour of Mark Noble, who is a more than able replacement.
Samir Nasri must be the next casualty for the axe after an anonymous display on Wednesday, and this change must be in order to accommodate Robert Snodgrass once again, who is a more trustworthy option.
The third change must come in the shape of Felipe Anderson, who was a shadow of the player that he has been this season – he must be dropped for Grady Diangana, who replaced him in the second half against City.
The fourth and final alteration must be in the shape of Andy Carroll, who was absolutely dire on Wednesday – if Marko Arnautovic is not ready to return, then Javier Hernandez must be the one to lead the line.
If Pellegrini makes the right calls in terms of his starting XI, then there is no doubt that his team would be able to crush Newcastle on Saturday.
