Some West Ham supporters have been reacting online to comments made by manager Manuel Pellegrini that were shared by the club’s official Twitter account.
The boss was quoted while addressing his thoughts on how his first season in East London went, having guided the Hammers to a top-half finish but dropped out of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in the respective Fourth Rounds.
Under the Chilean, though, we have been able to go toe-to-toe with the Premier League’s top six sides and beat Manchester United and Arsenal at the London Stadium, before becoming the first away side to win at Tottenham Hotspur’s new ground.
Questionable offside decisions have also hampered our points haul in the league, and without that missed call at home to Liverpool, we would likely not have been forced to settle for a point. We would also not have had to leave the London Stadium disappointed with a draw at home to Leicester City had Lucas Perez not incorrectly been judged in an offside position.
Those grievances are relatively small in the grand scale of Pellegrini’s first campaign, though, as we were not in a position to fear relegation like we were under Slaven Bilic and David Moyes.
Thus, the boss’ claims of progress being made and are true – just as his comments of still having work to do are.
“For the first season, to finish in the top 10 is not bad,” Pellegrini said. “We have improved in points, goals scored and goals conceded. So compared with the last season we have grown a step.”
And when those quotes were shared on Twitter, here’s how some fans reacted…
Significant step. May not seem much on paper but the whole feel about the club is different
— Matt (@sizzle_97) May 20, 2019
However, some of the performances were truly dreadful this season, especially against teams in the bottom half of the league. Right up there with some of the worst I have seen in 30 years supporting the club. More consistency please……
— Ross (@rossd182) May 20, 2019
Next season we also have VAR, which would have given us at least 7 extra points this year, and 7th place.
— L̞ͥͭ̍ͧ̉́͜ïl̴̟͎͍̞̖̥͋ͩ͒̄P̞̲͇͇͒͝a̪͕ͮͅr̩̉̓̆͑̍p̥͓̘̭͋ͫ̑ (@lilparpy) May 20, 2019
If I owned a club my target would be either more points or higher league place than previous year
— Andrew Battle (@andy_s_battle) May 20, 2019
Big things coming under this man! #COYI
— Joe Zas (@zas_joe) May 20, 2019
Small improvement each season, since moving to the London Stadium. Another small step next season, must be the only requirement. Remember how do you eat a elephant?
— ⚽Roly⚽ (@Roly4football) May 20, 2019
Growing a step. It’s a start.
Frankly, we need to grow a ladder.— Chris Ivory (@chrisivorylive) May 20, 2019
Great season 2018/19. Some really good individual performances. We ended up higher as mentioned previously. We should concentrate and remember that plus we had lots of injuries and we still came 10. Can’t wait for the new season to be honest.
— Antoine Garrode (@AntoineGarrod) May 20, 2019