Borrowed time: Gianfranco Zola
Gianfranco Zola will be sacked at the end of West Ham’s
increasingly desperate bid to avoid relegation from the Barclays
Premier League.
The under-pressure manager saw his struggling side’s survival
hopes suffer another setback at Anfield last night, apparently
unaware that his fate had already been sealed.
Alarmed at the way West Ham folded at key moments, such as the
recent home game with Wolves, Upton Park bosses have decided a
change is needed at the end of the season.
Sportsmail understands
Zola has yet to be informed, though the news will not come as a
surprise after his team put up little resistance and were undone by
Yossi Benayoun, David Ngog and an own goal by Robert Green.
West Ham want former England coach Steve McClaren to take over
but will have to stay up to stand any chance of landing him after
the way his reputation has been restored at FC Twente.
McClaren’s Twente team are one win away from clinching the Dutch
title.
Travelling West Ham fans taunted their own team with chants of
‘It’s just like watching Brazil’ after they finally went close in
injury time, and Zola admitted: ‘We can’t pretend it was our best
performance and the players know that.
Looking down: West Ham keeper Robert Green feels
the pain of defeat at Anfield last night
‘The first goal changed everything and, for some reason, they
didn’t seem to think they could come back from it. But this isn’t
the moment for dwelling on things, because we need a reaction
against Wigan on Saturday.
‘How do I cope with the pressure? By working even harder. That’s
what we did when the pressure was on against Everton, and we will
do it again on Saturday.’
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez admitted he was surprised by West
Ham’s lack of fight, saying: ‘It was comfortable in the end. Once
the first goal went in, it was easy, and perhaps we should have
scored more.
'We have a long trip coming up for the Europa semi-final in
Madrid, so it was important we were able to control the game.
‘We will be going by train to London and it will be a case then
of seeing if the airports are open. It is not ideal, but there are
not too many options.
'It is just a pity that it may cause some difficulties for our
supporters. I will be really disappointed for them if they cannot
travel.’