West Ham: leaks, Wilshere is injured and Champions League glory
Who is behind @exwhuemployee, a twitter account leaking the West Ham starting lineup before it’s common knowledge? For anyone keen to know which plodding midfield formation West Ham will field, @exwhuemployee is the account to follow. They’ve named the correct side more than 60 matches on the bounce.
Is Manuel Pellegrini, the West Ham manager with the look of an accountant in the market for a new Jaguar, concerned? “It’s not true; I’m not angry about that,” said Pellegrini. “I’m not aware of the team being leaked. In every team I have managed, the day before the game I work the set pieces so all the players know the day before who will play and who will not. So many players can talk with others and I am not keeping the starting XI three or four hours before the game. We work every day so there are a lot of reasons why people can know the team.”
Today West Ham take on Everton. You wonder if the Toffees can gain anything from knowing the Hammers’ line-up a few hours before its published? “I don’t think it’s the most important thing,” says Pellegrini. “If you’re going to play against Chelsea, Watford or Liverpool, you are sure it will be the same starting XI as they played the last game and they play exactly the same way. I don’t hide too much about the starting XI.”
Defeat at Everton would mean West Ham losing their opening five league games for the first time but Pellegrini insisted that he is not panicking.
“I have been in this position before,” he said. “I started with Villarreal and we had three points from the first 15 and we finished third in the table.”
In his first season in charge of Villarreal, El Submarino Amarillo qualified for the UEFA Champions League after finishing third in the league. The next season, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League, losing to Arsenal. Hope for West Ham, then.
PS: West Ham United midfielder Jack Wilshere is injured. Wilshere signed on a three-year deal at £100,000-a-week You read it here first (see Injury News passim ad nauseum).
Posted: 15th, September 2018 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
