West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini‘s decision to drop centre-back Angelo Ogbonna in recent games has not gone down well with most supporters.
The Italian has not started since the 2-0 defeat to Everton last month, with Fabian Balbuena having taken his place alongside Issa Diop in the centre of defence. However, things have gotten worse since the 31-year-old was benched.
The Hammers have conceded seven in three games since the loss at Goodison Park, and supporters on Twitter have been questioning Pellegrini’s judgement:
100% crazy how badly he has been treated
— cobblarr! ⚒ (@andrewcobb20) November 11, 2019
It’s a very strange one. He’s not injured and has consistently been our best centre-back, so why he’s lost his first team place to Balbuena who’s been sub-par in every game he’s played is a mystery to me mate.
— ⚒ESSEX•HAMMER⚒ (@WHULUVA) November 11, 2019
Only Pellegrini to blame for this. He has made some extremely odd decisions this season…
— Louis Blair (@Louislblair) November 11, 2019
As soon as I heard he dropped Ogbonna for Balbuena cos he felt sorry for him the writing was on the wall ?♂️
— costahammer (@costahammer) November 11, 2019
One thing I hate Pellegrini for. Dropped for no reason and now look how much of a shambles we are defensively
— Steve ⚒ (@StevehJack9) November 11, 2019
Just 1 of the many shocking decisions by Pellegrini yet still our board back him to turn things around. Struggling to decide who annoys me most atm
— Simon Dickens (@SimonDickens1) November 11, 2019
Fabianski has had a say in this as well I reckon but ogbonna is defo getting unfair treatment
— Tom Murphy (@TommyMurphwhu) November 11, 2019
More evidence that Pelligrini is clueless.
— Peter Martin ⚒ (@westham_boy1958) November 12, 2019
Not sure why he was dropped after the Everton game. Was one of the only ones who made a good account of himself.
— Matty Denners (@Denner7s) November 12, 2019
The defensive record with and without Ogbonna speaks for itself. In the eight games the Italian has started, West Ham have conceded eight times and kept three clean sheets. In his absence, they have let 12 goals in four matches.
Of course, some of those games have been where Roberto has been in goal, instead of Lukasz Fabianski, so the statistics are skewed slightly in that regard, but it still suggests the decision to drop Ogbonna was unjustified.