West Ham United have turned their season around in recent weeks but Paul Merson has highlighted the big problem that remains for Manuel Pellegrini.
West Ham were being tipped as relegation candidates after a torrid start to life in East London for Pellegrini.
Four defeats from their opening four Premier League games saw the Chilean installed as second favourite for the sack.
A daunting fixture list saw many pundits and rival supporters predicting ‘unsuitable’ Pellegrini could suffer a similar fate to Frank de Boer at Crystal Palace last season.
But a superb 3-1 win at Everton was followed by a 0-0 draw against Chelsea that West Ham were unlucky not to win and then the 8-0 hammering of Macclesfield in the Carabao Cup.
With Pellegrini’s philosophy showing sure signs of sinking in with his new-look squad, it seems the Hammers are upwardly mobile.
Pundit Paul Merson told Sky Sports’ The Debate he always felt West Ham’s games against opposition like Chelsea would ‘look after themselves’.
And he has highlighted the big issue which remains for Pellegrini, despite the recent turnaround.
“I knew West Ham would be alright in this game, it will look after itself these games,” Merson told The Debate.
“One, the fans will stay with them for the whole game and two, they can sit back and everybody get behind the ball (and fans will accept it given the opposition).
“The problem is going to be against the bottom half teams where the fans turn up and go ‘Right, beat these’ and then they have to chase the game and then they get picked off.
“When they are out of shape they haven’t got much pace in the team.
“But with Declan Rice playing now he gets it ticking, they had a little bit more pace in the team. I think they’ll be alright now, I wasn’t shocked (by the Chelsea result), I thought its was a hard game for Chelsea I really did, West Ham are renowned for the big games they can turn up sometimes.”
Merson went on to explain why the recent upturn proves Pellegrini has the squad fully behind him.
“Fair play to West Ham to turn it around because when you’ve lost four on the trot it’s not a nice play and when you’re going to Everton and you’ve got Chelsea (next). That’s great attitude by the players and that’s all you ask for. When a manager is under pressure, and he was (after) four defeats, all you look at is ‘Are the players working hard for him’ and those game they have worked very hard.”
Merson’s fellow guest on the show Steve Sidwell agreed and said he didn’t believe there ever was a crisis at the club as played out in the media.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
