West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic is a man under pressure going into Friday night’s game against Brighton.
West Ham sit in 15th place in the table going into the game against Chris Hughton’s Seagulls after an inauspicious start to the new season.
Frank de Boer and Craig Shakespeare have both received their P45s just eight games in proving just how volatile the life of a top flight manager is in modern day football.
Bilic’s star has faded over the last 18 months since his record breaking debut season where the Hammers finished just four points off the Champions League with their best ever Premier League points tally and first positive goal difference since 1986.
Fans have slowly started to turn on the Croatian.
Despite blaming the board for many of the club’s problems, most feel Bilic should still be getting better performances and results from the squad he has available.
And while he goes into Friday night’s game without Andy Carroll and possibly both Diafra Sakho and Javier Hernandez is it fair to suggest he should be sacked should West Ham fail to beat the visitors at the London Stadium.
David Sullivan and David Gold have been praised for standing by their managers and have done the same with Bilic.
But they have hardly backed him either.
A net spend of just £4 million since the big move to the former Olympic Stadium, constant interference in full public glare and no offer of a new contract all points to Bilic not being around beyond the expiry of his current deal next summer.
West Ham United supporters have been bored watching their side for a long time
But the Brighton game marks the quarter way stage in the season and if fans are restless things could turn ugly in East London forcing the owners’ hands.
Supporters have been wondering what has happened to the man who famously ushered in Croatia’s golden generation of talent so impressively at international level. The man who picked apart the tactics of fellow managers to an adoring public on TV during the Euros.
Instead they are greeted by a forlorn and beaten man nowadays.
Playing players out of position, failing to promote the club’s talented crop of young players and signing players for despite not appearing to have a plan to fit them into a coherent team.
The answer to West Ham’s problems are simple. Bilic must start to get the best out of a group of players who should be comfortably competing in the middle of the table, starting against Brighton, or face the ultimate consequences.
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