Former West Ham midfielder Gary O’Neil believes questions must be asked of Manuel Pellegrini following another dismal result at the weekend.
The Hammers were swept aside by Burnley at Turf Moor, with strikes from Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood and a calamitous own goal from goalkeeper Roberto seeing them slip to a fifth defeat in their last six games in all competitions.
The defeat follows a terrible run of results that has seen them turn from top six contenders to the edge of a relegation battle.
They have now gone seven games without a win – and that run includes a four-goal Carabao Cup hammering at League One Oxford.
And O’Neil, who made 48 league appearances from 2011–2013 at Upton Park, has admitted he was baffled at how Pellegrini set up at Turf Moor.
He told talkSPORT: “I’m not one for knee-jerk reactions, but when you see a performance like I did on Saturday at Burnley…
“When you go to Burnley you know what you are going to get. You know what Sean Dyche’s team is like, and you know it’s going to be a tough afternoon. It asks questions of you, physically and mentally, whether you are strong enough and up for the fight, which West Ham need to be now.
“And I just think they were seriously lacking. We need to start asking questions of Pellegrini – he is not getting enough of the squad of players, for me,” he continued.
“A performance like that suggests there is a problem. It looked like they didn’t know what they were doing, which means they are not fully understanding what he wants from them.
“I didn’t understand what the tactical approach to the game was; they weren’t trying to dominate the ball, they weren’t physical, they weren’t trying to play forward.
“I just don’t get the game plan. I don’t get what they were thinking when they approached that Burnley game.”
