OPINION
After West Ham United goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski picked up a serious injury that would eventually require surgery against Bournemouth last month, the Hammers were put into a sticky situation.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini was forced to throw one of two summer signings straight into a starting role for the next few months, and he selected Roberto as his main man between the sticks moving forward.
However, it hasn’t been straightforward for the Spaniard, with some supporters criticising him since his ascension to the number one role. Despite that, though, Football Insider reported on Wednesday that Pellegrini is set to keep his faith in Roberto and hand him a lengthy run in the team.
That’s because he views the former Espanyol man as superior to teammate and fellow goalkeeping summer signing David Martin. In that he is 100% right.
The 33-year-old isn’t the top class ‘keeper that Fabianski is, but he is certainly serviceable, and some of the criticism he has received from the Hammers fanbase has been way over the top.
As per WhoScored.com, Roberto is averaging four saves per game in the Premier League this season, with two of them coming from within the penalty area. That’s a lot of goalmouth action for a player who has been unlucky to come into the team amid a poor run of form.
His average WhoScored rating per game of 6.67 tells you that he has been pretty decent, especially considering that the Irons have claimed just one point from the three fixtures in which he has appeared.
The fact that Pellegrini even needs to make this sort of assertion about Roberto after just three games tells you so much about how impatient and fickle football fans are. The Chilean, though, is spot on in his viewpoint, here.
