They have to do better: Sky Sports pundit and ex-West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola criticises Hammers

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Gianfranco Zola believes West Ham should be performing a lot better than they are.

Former West Ham United boss and current pundit Gianfranco Zola has told Sky Sports’ The Debate that he thinks the club should be performing a lot better under Slaven Bilic.

The Hammers chose to stick with manager Bilic at the end of last season, backing him with new signings such as Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez instead of sacking the Croatian.

However, results this season have been somewhat disappointing. Away defeats at Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle United to open the season piled the pressure on manager Bilic, but he did hit back with a 2-0 home win over Huddersfield Town.

West Ham then drew 0-0 at West Brom before losing 3-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon, meaning they have taken just four points from the first six games of the season.

Bilic remains under major pressure, and West Ham face a huge home clash with Swansea City this weekend, with the Hammers boss needing a result.

Some fans have blamed owners David Gold and David Sullivan for the club’s inability to kick on and become a regular top eight club in the Premier League, after some calculated rather than exuberant spending over the summer.

Now, former West Ham boss and current pundit Gianfranco Zola has told Sky Sports’ The Debate that he thinks West Ham should be in the top half of the Premier League table every year, as they have great supporters and a strong approach to the game.

However, Zola noted that he doesn’t know why West Ham are playing so poorly this year, but believes they must do much better than their current performance.

“I think it’s a club that deserves to always be in the top half of the table, in my opinion,” said Zola. “They have great supporters and a very good philosophy of play, but they haven’t been playing well this year, to be honest. I don’t know why, they have good players, but they haven’t been playing well. Whether it’s down to confidence or the fact that they were missing some players, I don’t know, but I think they have to do better than this. It’s a club that deserve more than this,” he added.