West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini is a man under fire after the Newcastle United debacle.
West Ham have not won for six games and picked up a solitary point from three home games against Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and the Magpies.
The manner of the defeat to Newcastle has seen a call for change among a section of Hammers fans.
The 3-2 scoreline flattered West Ham, who would have lost by a cricket score against a better side.
Pellegrini has faced even more criticism since the game after some questionable post-match comments.
Speaking after the game Pellegrini said he does not know why things have turned sour. And he even praised hapless goalkeeper Roberto.
That is despite fans calling for changes to team selection and tactics for weeks because they could see this coming.
In fairness to the Chilean, he has come out fighting.
He was forthright with some of his comments to the press after the game.
“You need [to play well for] 95 minutes in the Premier League to win,” Pellegrini said, as reported by whufc.com.
“I need to find the reason to understand why we start the game in that way… We’ve been in worse positions than now but we need a strong reaction… I hope the squad understands.”
For all the criticism of the manager, the simple fact is he has been left hung out to dry by owners David Sullivan and David Gold.
The duo survived angry protests 18 months ago by finally showing some ambition with the appointment of Pellegrini and handing him £90million to spend.
Cynical Hammers fans predicted that would be a one-off to appease the fans.
And they have been proved right already.
Pellegrini was forced to bring in out of contract Samir Nasri last January.
And in the summer he was given a pathetic £25million net spend despite shipping out 11 players and cutting nearly £750,000 PER WEEK off the wage bill.
West Ham allowed all five of last season’s forwards – four of them proven Premier League players – to leave. And they signed just one proven striker in Sebastien Haller.
For a Premier League team to go into a season with just one striker is football suicide. It is unimaginable how much worse things could get if the Frenchman gets injured.
West Ham have needed another defensive and box-to-box midfielder for years. Instead Pellegrini has to flog Declan Rice week in, week out because he only has ageing flop Carlos Sanchez in reserve.
Then there is the goalkeeper situation.
Instead of spending a small amount of money to bring in a decent quality back-up goalkeeper, Sullivan and Gold’s penny-pinching forced Pellegrini to the bargain bin again and in came two free transfers Roberto and David Martin.
West Ham fans have witnessed first hand how hapless Roberto is. That in itself raises serious questions about Martin’s ability.
Pellegrini has been forced to defend Roberto. But what he probably wants to do is tell the world he has no other choice given the lack of funds made available to him.
And it will be January at the earliest when Lukasz Fabianski returns to solve that particular problem.
Then there are other key positions where just one or two additions could have pushed West Ham to the next level.
Instead of signing a quality left-back, Pellegrini has had to make do with signing Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku up to new long-term deals.
Say what you want about Pellegrini.
The lack of ambition from the owners is the real problem at West Ham and always will be.
Until that changes the club will never truly progress no matter who takes charge.
