OPINION
There were a few inclusions in the West Ham United team that no doubt baffled a lot of fans, and rightly so.
Manuel Pellegrini had decided to swap Pedro Obiang for Mark Noble – who by the way, performed excellently in their last match before the international break – as well as playing Lucas Perez in favour of Javier Hernandez.
Well it seems like Pellegrini’s experiment as well and truly backfired after the display from the £55,000-a-week [Spotrac] player. He really struggled in the middle of the park, and the majority of the time, he was outplayed by the Everton midfield, who were class all afternoon.
Either way, the manager’s stance towards the 27-year-old is absolutely nonsensical. Why give him a rare start in favour of Noble? Noble has done nothing to warrant being dropped, and it is clear that the midfield really missed his influence and experience in this match. Noble may not be the most technically gifted of players, but at least he would have fared a lot better than Obiang did.
He could never keep hold of the ball, and he lost possession far too many times to count. It was no surprise then, that he was taken off at half time in order for a more attacking minded Michail Antonio to come on.
Pellegrini has surely learned his lesson after this pathetic excuse of a performance. Never again will he decide to start two players who have not really contributed this season. After all, there is a reason why they have been out of the team for quite a while.
All in all, this was the worst performance from Obiang in a very long time. Abysmal, woeful – think of any negative adjective, and you have got it spot on.
Either way, Pellegrini will be kicking himself for starting him after this horror show, as it has evidently backfired on him.
