West Ham United won against Fulham at the weekend.
Pellegrini was impressed with the performances of Balbuena and Diop during West Ham’s 2-0 win against London rivals Fulham away from home at Craven Cottage in the Premier League at the weekend.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester City manager, though, has said that he wants the 27-year-old Paraguay international and the 21-year-old France Under-21 international to improve.
Pellegrini told West Ham’s official website about Balbuena and Diop: “I think that they are two very important players and they needed to know what the Premier League is before they started putting in good performances.
“They must continue to improve because they are top players and that is the same for every member of the squad.
“Issa Diop is a very young player, but he is an international player. Fabian Balbuena came from South America, but he played for one of the biggest teams in Brazil, so he is used to playing the way I want to play, with his back not so covered and with space behind them.”
Underrated
West Ham are in good form at the moment, and their attacking players have been earning rave reviews in recent weeks.
Defensively the Hammers have looked solid as well, and the performances of Balbuena and Diop have been very encouraging.
While Balbuena has played in 16 Premier League games for West Ham so far this season, Diop has featured 15 times in the league for the Hammers, according to WhoScored.
West Ham are ninth in the Premier League table at the moment with 24 points from 17 matches.
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