Former West Ham defender James Collins revealed he thought the West Ham board would at least stick with manager Manuel Pellegrini until Christmas.
The former Hammers centre-back was asked how long he thought Pellegrini had left at the club before potentially being sacked over a poor run of form, but Collins insisted the experienced manager needed time.
Collins pointed out the next two games were huge for the Hammers but admitted the board probably will only think about getting rid of Pellegrini if the club find themselves near the bottom of the Premier League around Christmas time.
“Yeah, I think they’ve got to give him time, obviously his pedigree speaks for itself,” said Collins on talkSPORT (8:48, Wednesday, November 11th).
“What he did at Man City, you don’t just turn bad in seven games, he’s got the squad there and like you say their next two games are huge.
“If you’re getting into Christmas and you’re seeing themselves around the bottom of the league, it does get tough.
“I’ve been there at West Ham, every game is a pressure game, I certainly think he will have up until Christmas then they’ll look at it again.”
OPINION
The 36-year-old clearly has the Hammers in his heart after playing well over 100 times for the London club, and it seems he thinks Pellegrini is the right man for West Ham. After all, Collins clearly has faith in the manager’s ability as he indirectly referred to how the manager won the Premier League title with Man City and he made it clear that he thought Pellegrini deserved time to get things right. While the 36-year-old believes the Hammers board won’t pull the trigger until Christmas, and only will get rid of him if the club look in danger of relegation, that may not be the case. West Ham seemed to have top-six ambitions ahead of the season getting underway, with the club breaking their transfer record on signing Sebastien Haller, so you feel just being in the bottom half by Christmas may be enough to see Pellegrini go. This is especially the case if the club’s results and performances don’t improve. The Hammers haven’t won any of their last six league games and have been played off their park by teams that shouldn’t be able to do so. For example, Newcastle United took a 3-0 lead over the Hammers, before Pellegrini’s side made the score more respectable, and Steve Bruce’s side could barely hit a barn door before the game.
