Manuel Pellegrini discusses everything from West Ham to Andy Carroll at this week’s presser
The West ham Gaffer, Manuel Pellegrini, met with club-related media today before the Hammers clash this weekend against Newcastle United.
As expected, former West Ham striker Andy Carroll was a topic of discussion as was other things varying from injuries to overall competitiveness between the two clubs and once again, Andy Carroll.
West Ham injury updates
The first big news is that Michail Antonio should be back after the next international break. The Hammers pacey winger hasn’t featured in a match since suffering a hamstring injury over a month ago in a Carabao Cup match against Newport County.
In a more recent injury-related incident, Jack Wilshere, who was absent when the Hammers drew 1-1 with Sheffield United last weekend. Pellegrini said “Jack is with some small problem. He is not 100% fit, I think that for him it is a risk to try to come back before he has completely recovered from that.”
Additionally, Winston Reid’s name came up. Since March of 2018 Reid has been out with a freak knee injury. Reid featured in West Ham U23s’ Premier League International Cup game against Wolfsburg last night. Pellegrini seemed pleased saying “We’ll see how he reacts. Next, he’ll aim to play another match for the whole game, and as soon as he can, he’ll start working with the first-team squad.”
Expectations for this weekend
Straight out of the gate the Gaffer was asked about Newcastle and how he thought the match would go. He replied saying “I may have never lost a match against Newcastle United, but I don’t think the statistics are important to win the game. I think that we must try to play a good game, improving on what we did in the last two games at home.”
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It is important to note that Newcastle is coming off a weekend where they drew Wolves 1-1 and look fairly good doing it. The EPL is a results-based business, and Pellegrini stated it best, “No matter if you play against a better team or a worse team, you must expect it will be a difficult game.”
Pellers was finally asked about the confidence of the team and how he goes into picking the starting XI. He responded with there are many different reasons you would pick the team to start the game. It’s down to the moments of the players, it’s tactical. Maybe there are small physical problems that the media doesn’t know about. There’s a lot of different things you have to decide before you start choosing the side.
Was Andy Carroll mentioned?
The answer to that question is an astounding yes! The Gaffer responded to a question on how he thinks it’ll go seeing the ex-Hammer, “I think that every player that plays for your team, your fans must react and give him a good welcome. For different reasons, Andy couldn’t stay here but I think that, for different reasons, he deserves the same respect because he defended the shirt of his old fans.”
The Chilean gave praise to Carroll as well stating, “If Andy Carroll is on the bench it will be one more difficult player that Newcastle has, and if he’s not, they have another player who is always a great danger.
Check out this marquee matchup coming up for West Ham v Newcastle. dark. Next
All things are pointing up as far as the Gaffer is concerned, so how will West Ham fans feel leading up to this important match? That is left to be said, but the squad is just 3 points away from a European spot and its early, anything can happen.