Manuel Pellegrini has a big job on his hands and will start work on it this week.
The manager appears to have found an issue at West Ham which maybe new to him, or at the least rare, in his long experience as a manager.
The defeats away from home at Wolverhampton, Bournemouth and Cardiff are inexplicable to most of us and he is having problems understanding why.
So far he has no answers but he plans to get to the bottom of it by holding talks with the team at Rush Green this week as he attempts to sort out a critical problem which seems more mental than physical.
There has been a widespread view that the Irons have an attitude of turning up to win against lesser teams but that’s not an argument that can be applied to the likes of Bournemouth and Wolves.
And the inability to score a single goal is an issue that is now becoming critical if the Hammers are to move on into the top seven of eight.
He told the media: “Maybe [it is getting into the players’ heads] and that’s why we need to talk to them during the week.
“It’s not normal that in four of the last five away games, we lost and didn’t score against Wolverhampton, Bournemouth, Manchester City and again on Saturday.
“That’s a lot of games we cannot score in and we try to play in exactly the same way that we do at home.”
“I was surprised with the way we played because we kept the same starting XI as we used and who played so well against Newcastle and also because we talked so much during the week about the fact we would find a team which is fighting against relegation and had lost their last three games, and especially that they’d lost at home 1-5 and 0-3 in the last two games they’d played there.
“But we couldn’t deal with what they did. They started the game very fast and they scored the first goal too early – an easy goal – and after that they started the second half fast and scored their second goal early.
“It’s difficult to find the exact reason but, first of all, we knew that this was a difficult game because nobody wants to continue losing points at home, particularly those teams who are fighting relegation.
“A lot of things can determine a result in football and whether you win or you lose.”
There are some glaring omissions from the list where we just failed to turn up and didn’t score, Burnley away was a horror show and Brighton not much better to name but two.
We have some quality players who are remarkably inconsistent, Felipe Anderson must surely be the best example of this. Our most consistent performers by far have been Fab and Declan, maybe they could pass on their secret when they all have a ‘chat’.
There isn’t a clear pattern. We do have one of the best records against the top six ( but that may not look so good after games in April against Man U, Spurs & Chelsea). We have doubled a couple at the bottom & got an away point at Huddersfield, which is not that bad a record. On the other hand the results against Bournemouth & Wolves were poor & Brighton nearly doubled us. It is still not clear that we are going to end up much higher than last season,so perhaps May is the time to make the overall assessment. At the moment the feeling in my bones is that we have improved, but not that much & that without another busy summer we could just as easily be struggling in the bottom half again next season.
I believe we have a few above-average players, balanced by some considerably below average ones.
That is why I maintain that Pellegrini’s philosophy of persuading such players that they are a BIG club has exactly the opposite effect to that intended.
It is clear by the repeated displays of complacency, against too many teams around and below, that many of them DO believe their own publicity.
Likewise, another negative effect of such publicity is that opposition teams take it to heart and up their game accordingly.
Then, reality kicks in and roughly equivalent talents succeed due to the vital ingredient which our deluded players believe they do not need: EFFORT.
In the first instance, the responsibility for these performances lies firmly at the feet of the coach.
As good a coach as Pellegrini may or not be, to think he can psych players into the top 4-6 is ridiculous in the extreme.
That’s not even considering the current insistence of MY only way is THE only way. One tactic; one formation; consistently overrun in midfield and non-existent attack.
The quicker he appreciates that he must play his BEST (available) team every time, the better.
Pelligrini is trying to instill the big team mentality but the players aren’t capable of doing it .
Buy as many players as you like but if the mentality isn’t there it’s pointless . We are for always saying we have a team full of talent ,,,, ha ha ha . It’s time they turned up to demonstrate it . It’s got nothing to do with the new stadium ,,, it’s been the same for donkeys years no matter the manager or the system .. it’s a West Ham thing .. we only know how to suffer and know nothing about celebrating . Why why why ? . Time to stop talking the big game and start to play it . It’s a joke that’s not funny anymore .