West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has urged Everton to exercise patience over the future of under-fire manager Marco Silva, prior to what could be a decisive fixture at Goodison Park.
After spending more than £100m in the summer, The Toffees find themselves in the relegation zone following a run of four consecutive defeats leading to suggestions that Silva could become the Premier League’s first managerial casualty this season.
However, Irons boss Pellegrini has encouraged those behind the scenes to give Silva time before giving him his marching orders.
Board Backing
“I don’t think Marco Silva is under pressure. All managers, winning or losing, are always under pressure and you know the next game is a different game,” said the former Premier-League winning gaffer.
“I don’t think because he lost the last four games he must be sacked. Maybe the owners of Everton, the directors, knows how he is working, and trust him a lot. I don’t think he should be sacked in the next game. He must continue doing exactly what the work he is doing.”
Common Ground
The speculation surrounding Silva’s potential demise is reminiscent to Pellegrini’s situation just over 12 months ago when the Chilean saw his future plunged into doubt just four games into his West Ham tenure.
Pellegrini survived his rough introduction to life at the Olympic Stadium, eventually leading the Hammers to a 10th place Premier League finish and has backed the beleaguered Everton boss to successfully traverse this spell.
“Of course, they must (back him). If you hire a manager, if you bring a manager to your club, it is because he is a good manager, and you believe a lot in him. Every manager, at some moment, doesn’t have the result you expected, but the work is different.
“I am not involved in Everton’s problems. But I think if you are the sporting director that brought in a manager because you know him, and he is a very good manager, then you also have a lot of responsibility if you sack him. You have made a mistake also. I don’t think this is the case in Everton.”
Looking Ahead
Three points on Merseyside could launch West Ham into the top four and Pellegrini has vowed to block out the noise surrounding Everton’s increasing tensions and focus on the task at hand.
“In this profession, you must be able to support all different pressures. Firstly your own pressure. After that, fans pressure, media pressure, results pressure. So there are a lot of things which are involved in your profession. I don’t think we have any problem about that.”
West Ham travel to Goodison Park on Saturday for their first game back after the international break in the lunchtime kick-off at 12:30pm.
