Everton vs West Ham: Why Manuel Pellegrini will double down on his philosophy despite horror start

West Ham United via Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_16 September 2018

West Ham are the only side in England’s top four divisions without a point to their name this season.

Manuel Pellegrini takes his side, struggling to settle after an injection of £100million over the summer, to Goodison Park this weekend with the precedent of Frank de Boer having already been dismissed at Crystal Palace this time last season hanging over him.

The Chilean has been tasked with a complete overhaul of the ambitions and style at a club which spent the majority of last season looking over their shoulder at the threat of relegation.

Three points is a must on Merseyside, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham three of the four sides following in the fixture list.

However, perhaps more important is that Pellegrini sees his side continue to develop his philosophy in order to claim their first points of his tenure.

In his Standard Sport column, captain Mark Noble wrote: “Trying to play like Barcelona isn’t going to work at the moment. We need to grind out a result — 1-0 will do.”

But that won’t sit with Pellegrini. At Manchester City and Real Madrid there was never any real need to move from his mantra and go back to basics. At Malaga and Villarreal, though, he survived tough times the only way he knows how: believing in his methods and having the conviction not to be swayed by any external factors.

In Pictures | West Ham vs Wolves | 01/09/2018

1/21

“It is more important to have points against Everton, but the best way to do it is to continue the way we are doing and improving that way,” he told Standard Sport.

“Not to be scared or reflect that you are afraid what will happen. That then is very difficult.

“You must adapt the way you play with the players you have. It’s the mentality, a winning mentality.

“You can wait near your box until they make a mistake or you can try to force the mistake a little higher. You must try to go with a mentality where if you play against a big team, a draw is a good result.

“For me to draw, it is a good result if you cannot win. But if you do not try to win from the beginning then it is very difficult. There are a lot of things I do not change.”

Pellegrini’s unwavering confidence is admirable, but it must spread further than him and his coaching staff if they are to make a success of their spell in east London.

In Pictures | Arsenal v West Ham | 25/08/2018

1/37

For all of the board’s flaws at West Ham, they are often accommodating of their managers. Pellegrini was their first choice to lead this evolution at London Stadium since before David Moyes was brought in last season, but their faith is being tested early on.

Getting so many new, and expensive, faces to settle is a task which needs time; time that most Premier League managers simply do not get. In La Liga, Pellegrini earned himself the time to implement his ways, and a win at Everton would go a long way to doing the same at West Ham.

In Pictures | Liverpool vs West Ham | 12/08/2018

1/42

The 64-year-old will not change his ways after more than 25 years in management and League titles in four different countries.

If he is to make things work in a second Premier League spell and, as are the ambitions of both coach and club, go on a similar journey to that which he went on with Malaga, Pellegrini will need the patience of everyone from the boardroom to the stands as he looks to create an entertaining force from a club where confidence is on its knees.

A win at Everton will renew hope that this could be the start of something in Stratford, but only if they do so showing everything Pellegrini likes to see from his teams.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in