Lee Bowyer critical of Manuel Pellegrini’s team selections as West Ham’s poor form continues

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West Ham United’s poor form continued as they slipped into the bottom half of the Premier League table at the weekend.

Lee Bowyer has been left baffled by Manuel Pellegrini’s team selections as West Ham United suffered another defeat over the weekend.

The former Hammers midfielder questioned why Pellegrini opted to select Pablo Zabaleta on Saturday, with Ryan Fredericks sitting on the bench.

The Hammers were done on the counter, time and time again, with Newcastle’s pace and power proving to be too difficult for the London club.

Speaking to The Debate on Sky Sports Premier League (04/11/19 at 11:05 pm), Bowyer stated that West Ham’s poor form has been down to Lukasz Fabianski not playing, as he questioned Pellegrini.

“A lot it is down to their goalkeeper, he’s injured,” Bowyer told Sky Sports. “Massive loss because at the start of the season, when West Ham were doing well, me as a West Ham fan, was saying ‘great start’.

“And all I kept seeing was the keeper making save after save. Since he’s been out, they have definitely gone backwards – the goalkeeper has to save two of the penalties from the weekend.

On whether or not Pellegrini is to blame for team selections: “I would say Zabaleta. You are playing against the quickest winger in the league and then you play Zabaleta. That made no sense because you had Fredericks [on the bench]. He could have played and he’s rapid himself. You match him up. For me, that was the wrong decision. That was a mismatch.”

West Ham are in a seriously bad run of form, and it isn’t helped by the fact that they were knocked out of the League Cup to Oxford before this poor run started.

Pellegrini’s side are slipping down the table, but luckily for them, the Premier League table is still congested, and three points at the weekend could seem them move into the top-six.

But that won’t be on the mind of West Ham, who will be planning to face another out-of-form team in Burnley at the weekend before the final international break of the year kicks in.