Will Manuel Pellegrini’s arrogance be his undoing at West Ham?

Another week and another opportunity for Manuel Pellegrini to adjust his team selection and change his tactics to inspire a win. Oh, and another week gone by with none of this done. Will the manager’s arrogance get him sacked early at West Ham?

I like to consider myself pretty level headed and calm when it comes to football opinions. I don’t like the knee-jerk reactions that are emotionally fuelled right after a performance like West Ham put forward at Burnley, which is why this was written a day later. The point being, even after a break from the match my response is the same – Manuel Pellegrini won’t change his ways, and isn’t the man for the job anymore.

The contrarian view would likely suggest that just a month and a week ago this wouldn’t have been the case. The Hammers were rolling along and achieving what they needed in the first two months of the season to attack the top-6. While the success was enjoyable, the underlying issues that have derailed the season were still there in those point-producing matches.

West Ham were outplayed at Brighton after getting smacked in their opening fixture against Manchester City. The Gulls dominated the match and were unlucky that _Chicharito_ scraped in a second-half equalizer to steal a point for the Hammes. What would follow was a far too loose performance against Watford that ended 3-1 for West Ham.

Early chances were traded as both sides failed to defend at all, and Fabianski bailed out his teammates on multiple occasions to keep the match close. The 2-0 win against Norwich was the best performance of the season for the Hammers, with Sebastien Haller looking lively, Arthur Masuaku and Ryan Fredericks getting advanced, and the midfield releasing the forwards to attack all match long.

All of these matches, and also including the 2-0 win over Manchester United, featured curious substitutions at peculiar times. This trend has continued in the poor stretch of games with Pellegrini unwilling to change away from his beloved 4-1-4-1 formation to start a game, but quickly abandoning it when goals are needed in the second half.

Bad timing, wrong players, and most notably, no game plan from the manager all have translated into bad performances on the pitch. The scouting of the opposition seems nonexistent, the drilling on set pieces is clearly not there, and the actual plan of attack isn’t taking with the starting players.

Yes, the players are good enough to take over a game by themselves, game plan aside, however, they appear confused in-game and are unable to impact the scoreline out of this paralysis. On multiple occasions against Burnley, Pablo Fornals and Felipe Anderson had the ball at their feet with a completely static team around them. No movement, no runs, no angles being changed, just ten other men standing still, unsure of what to do or where to go.

This issue comes with the formation. Pellegrini has his formation and fits his players into it, the only problem with this is that the players aren’t built for this setup. Haller plays better with another striker. Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko play better high up the pitch, Fredericks needs to get forward, and Rice needs to have the freedom to move freely in his defensive midfield role.

Everyone sees these needs but Pellegrini. Instead, the manager doesn’t take the blame himself and doesn’t call out his players for not showing up leaving everyone in the dark trying to understand what the manager actually sees as the problem on the pitch. In reality, the problem is on the sideline. He has his trophies, he has his cash, and his has his old ways of thinking and setting up. West Ham’s biggest issue right now is that their manager has nothing to prove and no motivation to turn this team around. The arrogance of a paid, proven man.