The Hammers as a club has always been a hot house – where brief periods of calm are followed by almighty explosions of emotion, anxiety and joy – par for the course.
But in Manuel Pellegrini they now have a manager who is just about as calm as it gets and it’s a real pleasure to hear the calm composed and collected approach to games.
His calm down message to the squad during half time against Everton – as related by Mark Noble – is an indication that very little – if anything – will ruffle the man.
And he is carrying exactly the same approach in to the game against Chelsea as he declares: “If we beat Chelsea it will not change our season.
We will have just had six games, and not 38, so if we lose it will not be the final decision either. We must continue to try and improve every game, and every week.”
“I know that here in London there are a lot of derbies, but we have our first of the season against Chelsea, and they are at the top of the table so that is more of a motivation to beat them,”
“Every game is different so we must be confident that we can play, and we need to be very concentrated on defending because they have players that make a difference in space.”