West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is walking the proverbial ‘tightrope’ after watching his team slide to a dismal defeat to Tottenham at the London Stadium.
The scoreline may have read 3-2 at the final whistle, but there’s no denying that the Hammers were absolutely awful against their bitter rivals. The result extended the club’s run of games without a win to seven, heaping pressure upon the likeable Chilean boss.
With other results going against West Ham, they now find themselves 17th in the table – and speculation over a potential exit for Pellegrini is rife.
Well, 90min is here to spin you through the runners and riders, before deciding who owners David’s Sullivan and Gold should be thinking of employing, should Pellegrini indeed get the boot…
Mauricio Pochettino
Only joking, of course Poch isn’t in the running.
Despite Spurs’ woes, he is a good manager – and as much as it pains me to say it, West Ham are a bad team.
Complete non-starter.
90min Recommends: Waking up and smelling the roses.
Chris Hughton
One name that’s been mentioned in dispatches is former Brighton manager Chris Hughton, who was turfed out of his job on the south coast last summer.
The 60-year-old is extremely likeable and did a superb job retaining the Seagulls’ status in the Premier League, having performed wonders to even get them there in the first place.
However, Brighton’s style of football last season was dire – though it did keep them up – so you wonder whether or not his appointment could possibly be viewed as anything but negative?
90min Recommends: Looking elsewhere.
David Moyes
No, you’re not dreaming – David Moyes really is a contender to return to West Ham, despite being binned off in favour of Pellegrini at the end of the 2017/18 season.
The Scotsman is still looking to work his way back into management after that short stint, having previously enjoyed a splendid time of things at Everton.
They too are thinking of re-employing Moyes, as they ponder the future of the seemingly incapable Marco Silva as their manager – leaving us in a bizarre Moyes tug-of-war scenario. That wouldn’t have seemed like a bad prospect six years ago, but things haven’t gone too well since he succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson in the Manchester United throne.
That said, he kept the Hammers up before, so if it’s a stop gap they are after…
90min Recommends: Thanking him for past glories but nothing more.
Marco Silva
If Everton do end up rolling back the years for Moyesy, that would mean that Silva is on the hunt for another job.
His recent track record suggests he’d have no problem attending another immediate interview, were West Ham to deem him worthy of approaching. Struggling spells with Hull, Watford (to a degree) and now this latest venture at Everton would suggest, however, that’s probably not a good idea.
He’s not been mentioned as a candidate, but it’s always good to rule these things out.
90min Recommends: Giving the man extended some time off.
Sean Dyche
Burnley are one of those teams that everybody hates facing.
You’ll get the usual ‘they play long football’ brigade telling you that they are boring, overly physical and lucky to be where they are – but you make your own luck in this game, so it’s fair play to Dyche for making his team a formidable unit.
And that’s exactly what they are – a team. Scoff all you like at the manner in which Burnley score goals, but there’s no doubting they are a cohesive unit, playing for their manager and each other. In truth, the Hammers could do a lot worse than going for Dyche and his pragmatic style to management.
90min Recommends: Giving him a interview.
Rafa Benitez
West Ham have seemingly been chasing Rafa Benitez for as long as I’ve been playing Football Manager. And let me tell you, that is a very, very long time.
It’s no surprise really, as Benitez’s CV makes for good reading and he’s proven at Newcastle that he’s capable of reviving a side heading for the wilderness. The Hammers have some big name players on big money wages, and that’s something that the Spaniard will be familiar with too after spells in charge of Liverpool and Real Madrid, among many others.
The problem, however, is that he’s currently being paid £12m-per-year at Chinese Super League moneybags Dalian Yifang, and that’s rather a lot of money.
90min Recommends: Leaving him on the shortlist until 2031.
Chris Wilder
Sheffield United were everybody’s tip to be instantly relegated from the Premier League, but boy have they proved people wrong.
Naturally, I knew they were going to finish towards the top half of the table, so this run of form is absolutely not a surprise to me at all. What is a surprise is seeing Wilder linked with the West Ham job, considering he must be loving life at Bramall Lane.
He’s got an enthusiastic bunch of players who, like Dyche’s troops, love playing for each other and their manager. He’d need a chuffing good reason to down tools and move down south in order to take on a team of non-running individuals.
Still, worth a go at least, one imagines.
90min Recommends: Sounding him out and nabbing an interview.
Eddie Howe
Did you know that Eddie Howe was first appointed as Bournemouth manager when he was 13? Oh wait, sorry it was 31 – but it may as well have been the former, given that he’s barely aged since then.
Now, a decade later, he’s still in charge at the Vitality Stadium, where he’s earned plaudits from all around the country getting his Cherries side to play an entertaining, fast-paced brand of expansive football.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – but there’s no disputing Howe’s coaching credentials and looking at West Ham’s current crop of stars, that’s exactly what they need. Coaching.
It may take a lot to prize him away from the south coast, but we all know the Hammers have a sizeable cheque book. It’s time for a long-term project and a long-term manager, rather than temporary solutions.
90min Recommends: Appointing him as manager.
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