Pellegrini patience please – a man for all seasons
The start has hardly been the most promising but it’s still too early for doom and gloom to surround the new manager and the host of new additions to the squad.
Indeed, the bumpy ride of making a losing start to seasons isn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for Manuel Pellegrini, before his teams finally click into gear and demonstrate the football they’re capable of playing.
At the large majority of his most prominent previous posts, the Chilean coach has usually ended up finding the winning formula before too long, particularly during his time in Spain.
Pellegrini most notably rose to managerial prominence in Spain’s La Liga with Villarreal, taking the post at the start of the 2004-05 season. The beginning of that campaign was far from ideal, with the Yellow Submarine failing to win any of their opening five league games, before eventually claiming victory at the sixth attempt against Real Zaragoza at home.
However, once the tactics and ideas of Pellegrini finally bedded in and his squad became more settled, Villarreal embarked upon an excellent run of form to eventually finish third in La Liga. This set a new record high for the modest club from the province of Castellón, in what was only their sixth season competing in the Spanish top flight.
After five excellent seasons with Villarreal, the managerial expertise of Pellegrini caught the attention of Real Madrid, although he would spend just one frustrating 2009-10 season with the club before departing from the Santiago Bernabéu, the latest casualty of their ever-stratospheric demands for silverware.
The first season in charge at Málaga CF saw Pellegrini take over from the sacked Jesualdo Ferreira, steadying the ship for the remainder of the campaign to finish 11th in the table.
The following 2011-12 season, with Pellegrini managing to stamp his own identity on the team, Málaga finished fourth in La Liga to achieve their highest ever league finish and record tally of points, whilst also securing European football for the first time in the Costa del Sol club’s history.
Balancing continental action with the league and cup would prove challenging the following season, but Pellegrini still guided Málaga to sixth in La Liga, plus quite unexpectedly, the quarter-finals in the Champions League and somewhat controversial elimination by Borussia Dortmund.
Popular with the fans, his departure from La Rosaleda was met with lamentation by locals, who deeply appreciated the work he’d done there.
We’re already conscious of the success that Pellegrini achieved at Manchester City, winning the Premier League title once and the League Cup twice during his three-year tenure, although it’s impossible to compare that job to the challenges he currently faces at West Ham, despite the many signings made ahead of the 2018-19 season.
Just like his time with Villarreal and Málaga, Pellegrini finds himself at one of the lesser fancied clubs in the Premier League, if we’re completely honest, with bookmaker odds at redbet.com/en/sports placing the Irons as 5/1 relegation candidates and 18/1 to finish in the top six, which the club hasn’t achieved since finishing 5th during the 1998-99 season twenty years ago.
If anyone is capable of turning the fortunes of West Ham around, given his managerial track record, it’s Pellegrini. All that’s needed is time and patience, without any knee-jerk reactions or pessimism kicking in.
The Chilean and his team will gradually find their way, accompanied by the backing of the fans, because he’s arguably the best man for the job the club has had for many years.