West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini chose to bring Robert Snodgrass off with around five minutes to go against Sheffield United yesterday, and the Chilean told reporters why he made that decision, as quoted by Football.London.
The 32-year-old was replaced by Albian Ajeti. And the Swiss made little impact.
Snodgrass was actually one of the Hammers’ best players. He scored his side’s first goal, and was a constant threat for the home side.
So it was no surprise when Pellegrini’s decision to take the winger off was booed by the West Ham fans.
The former Manchester City boss spoke to reporters, and explained his thinking behind making the substitution, as quoted by Football.London:
“Well because we are in the last three or four minutes of the game, we wanted to be with two players inside the box so we can score that goal to decide the game. Robert worked a lot during the whole game. He did very good game but we need fresh legs inside the box to try to score the second goal.”
Pellegrini is taking a big risk by making decisions that reek of panic. He must draw on his experience, and perhaps not react by making choices that are unpopular with the Hammers fans.
West Ham face Newcastle next weekend, and Snodgrass has surely done enough to keep his place in the side.
The Hammers quite simply have too many of their star names not performing at present.
So the Scotland international finding some form would be a big boost for the east London outfit.
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