(Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)
David Martin will again be in goal when the Hammers step out against Wolves at Molineux tomorrow evening (Wed).
Saturday’s hero against Chelsea will aim to follow up with a top display as the Hammers head into a game against the sixth placed midlanders.
And it will now be no surprise if free signing Roberto will be forced to sit on the sidelines for the rest of the season and maybe next after one of the most desperate spells any player could have had at any club.
In confirming his decision to again go with the 33 year old manager Manuel Pellegrini continued to sympathise with the Spanish stopper who had been found out by many fans even in pre-season.
Despite him looking very dodgy – even at that stage – it took the boss probably too long to replace him with Martin despite the formal Millwall stopper having no Premier League experience.
Commenting at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/december/03-december/team-news-martin-start-against-wolves-haller-update: the manager simply said “Yes” when asked if he could keep his place.
He added: “Of course, it was a difficult decision because the goalkeeper is a special position. After that, Martin had not too much experience in the Premier League.
“I think, in some moments, the team needs a reaction and, unfortunately for Roberto, he was not doing well. It’s my duty to try to see what we can improve.
“I don’t think that was the only reason why we played well against Chelsea though. I think there was commitment from the players. We were aggressive in the way that we played and we improved a lot in comparison with other games.”
He continued: “Roberto is a player with a strong mentality. He has a lot of experience and a career behind him. I hope that he will keep working, forget what’s happened, and he will continue to recover his normal performance, because that wasn’t normal for him to make mistakes. “
And on the decision to drop Seb Haller to the bench he added: “All the players that come from different leagues need time to adapt. I think that Sebastien started very well, scoring some goals, but after that he was struggling.
“It wasn’t just his performance; he wasn’t the only one whose performance wasn’t normal. The team was not playing well.
He understands that he will continue being an important player and I am absolutely sure that soon he will be the Sebastien he was at the start of the season.”
Alan McNightmare; that’s all I’m saying.
Perhaps someone should tell Pelle one of the reasons why he has gone off the boil is because he is not a lone target man so Pelle needs to play two up front or buy another player to suit his preferred style of play instead to trying to force players to adapt to his tactics
What does not ever playing in premier league before matter ? He still experienced at 33 and played professional football for years and should have came in straight after Newcastle game . MP dropped a bo###k not playing him sooner
I sincerely hope that I am not putting the “mockers” on him ie Martin but I think many Hammers supporters have gone overboard about his display against Chelsea,(obviously better than Roberto,) cannot question a clean sheet that is for sure but I feel he may still have “deficiencies” in his make up… Go out and prove me wrong… Fingers crossed, will take a draw anyday. COYI.