MANUEL PELLEGRINI launched a passionate last-ditch defence of his West Ham record insisting he is the right man to save this club.
And the Chilean has told demanding owners David Gold and David Sullivan: Show faith in me — I have improved this club since arriving in East London.
Chilean boss Manuel Pellegrini insists West Ham are just going through a bad spellCredit: Getty – Contributor
Many believe the 66-year-old will be axed regardless of the result of the crunch Premier League clash tomorrow evening at Southampton.
Yesterday at the Rush Green training centre, Pellegrini faced a grilling about his 19-month tenure.
And he admitted:
l He doesn’t know if he will still be in charge on Monday but is not afraid of the sack.*
l Other football club owners would have sacked him by now following a run of one win in 11 matches.*
l The Irons dressing room remains united and are still listening to his instructions.*
*+ And the players’ Christmas party will be determined by the result at St Mary’s.*
‘MUST TRUST MORE THAN EVER’
Pellegrini fronted up to the media and admirably answered every tough question about his future with nothing off-limits.
The issue, of course, is he might have simply run out of time to keep his position.*
Pellegrini, who earns £7m annually, said: “Does anyone know if they’ll be in a job on Monday if it doesn’t depend on them?
“If things don’t depend on you, you cannot give an answer.
What I need is to win the game and maybe I’m not in my job on Monday.
“That’s not a problem of the job. The problem is to try to improve what you’re doing because we don’t have the results.
“And of course for many years in this profession having just five points from these many games isn’t good enough.
“I accept we aren’t in the moment or in the way I expected. I accept that.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang killed off West Ham when Arsenal came back to win 3-1 in the latest blow for Manuel PellegriniCredit: Reuters
I didn’t come here to fight for relegation.”
The ex-Manchester City boss refuted suggestions his team lack leadership, particularly when they threw away a lead in the 3-1 loss to Arsenal last Monday.
SunSport reported there is a division within the dressing room but Pellegrini claims everyone is united not divided.
Pellegrini doesn’t want the owners to issue a public vote of confidence but reckons it’s time for everyone to trust his experience and stay calm.
He said: “This season we’ve improved a lot. If you join the last four games of last season with the first seven games this season, we lost one, we drew three and won seven in 11 games.
‘I’M NEVER AFRAID’
“So it was demonstrated for a long time, the team was playing the way you want. With that amount of points maybe you finish the season with 68-69 points.
“Something happened – and we must try to solve it.
“You must trust more than ever. Everyone has bad moments.
“I was the first man to put pressure on myself because I came here saying I wanted to be fighting for a European spot, to improve in every game.
“I accept to be criticised in this moment as a manager.
“The owners trust a lot in me, yes.
“That’s why they brought me here and I also expected a lot when I came here to West Ham.
“But I’m absolutely sure the owners will be happy if we can recover our normal self.
“It’s not normal to have five points from 13 matches and have very bad results.
“That’s why I know the owner trusts what we’re doing because another owner maybe you have been sacked before.
“We have a good squad, one that can do better than we’re doing at this moment.
“I don’t think that if you see this team play against Chelsea that you can say players aren’t listening.
“I’m never afraid of my job. I’m afraid because I’m losing my challenge.
Don’t worry about my job.”
As for the Christmas party, Pellegrini appeared to play the role of Scrooge with the annual shindig hanging in the balance.
He told the players: “We’ll first finish the game against Southampton and then we’ll decide what will happen in the future.”
Jamie O’Hara says West Ham should go for Rio Ferdinand if they sack Manuel Pellegrini
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
