Slaven Bilic is fighting for his job at West Ham

Somewhere in East London, Slaven Bilic is sipping on cognac (he just seems like a Remy Martin guy) with two cubes, wondering what the hell happened in a series of just six months. From an unpredictable finish in last year’s Premier League table to presumably managing for his job. The pendulum tends to swing both ways and this could just be the apex before we rifle towards the good times.

However, if the pendulum hammer keeps heading in the opposite direction, we could be looking at another manager falling on their sword. The Telegraph is reporting David Sullivan and David Gold have reached out to several managers to gauge their interest. Those managers include Rafael Benitez, Eddie Howe, Roberto Mancini, and Rudi Garcia.

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If we are going to go down this rabbit hole I would have to say Roberto Mancini would be the most likely. Eddie Howe and Rafa Benitez are very much not available at the moment, and there is no reason to think Rudi Garcia would leave Marseille for the Premier League. However, the ex-Manchester City boss is looking for work after being let go from Inter Milan, and might have a desire to try to recreate magic in England.

Bilic has been shielded from much of the blame for West Ham’s performance until the shocking defeat at White Hart Lane. If we were to take a magnifying glass to his decisions this summer, we’d see most of his signing have not panned out. In fact, a lot of them have proved to be hindrances to the success of this club.

Simone Zaza, Arthur Masuaku and Gokhan Tore have all shared time on the injury bench and have no lived up to the hype summer signings tend to have. Can the blame be placed squarely on Slaven for the failures of others? Yes. That comes with the territory. You get credit for the successes and blamed for the failures. However, West Ham hasn’t failed yet. They are still above the relegation zone with much of the season left to play. Slaven needs to reignite that fire within the locker room. A win next week at Old Trafford could set ablaze mediocrity and go a long way towards redemption.