Allardyce’s job on line after mauling by Manchester City
Heat turned up on West Ham boss after 6-0 thrashing in first leg of League Cup semi-final
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West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce accepted his position was under scrutiny after his side crashed 6-0 at Manchester City in their League Cup semi-final first leg.
Alvaro Negredo plundered a hat-trick as City destroyed hapless West Ham at the Etihad Stadium to all but qualify for the final.
Wednesday’s result came just three days after a second-string West Ham team were thrashed 5-0 at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, while the east London club are also second from bottom in the Premier League.
It is life, isn’t it, when you are not doing well? You get stick as a manager
Allardyce received public backing from West Ham co-chairmen David Gold and David Sullivan prior to the loss at City, but he conceded that he needs to turn the situation around as quickly as possible.
“You cannot keep losing football matches, that is for sure, as a manager,” he said at the Etihad Stadium.
“You cannot think it will be allowed to continue. I don’t want it to continue, that is for sure. We know the reasons why, but in the end, even those reasons won’t save you.
“We have to get those [injured] players back as quick as we can and we have not lose confidence in our own ability and get out of this hole we are in at the moment.”
The humiliating defeat at City concluded to a chorus of calls for Allardyce’s head from the visiting fans, but the manager said he understood their frustration.
“That is the way it goes, that is the way this job is. You take it on the chin and get on with it.
“You can understand it when they travel all this way, and the team gets beaten heavily, that they are going to give you some criticism.
“But we are not the first team to get beaten here by many, many goals and we won’t be the last having seen Manchester City through this season.”
Manuel Pellegrini’s City have now scored 59 goals in their 15 home games this season and their place in the final appears a formality ahead of the return leg at Upton Park on January 21.
“It’s never finished until the end, but I think that today we have one leg in the final,” City manager Pellegrini told Sky Sports.
“The most important thing was not to score the six goals, but it was the way that this team must play. It’s very important to continue scoring goals, but also it’s very important not to concede goals.
“We have to play another game, the second leg, in London and we’ll try to continue to play, independent of what we did here today.”
