Monday 28 August 2017 12:52, UK
Sacking West Ham manager Slaven Bilic this early in the season would be harsh, says Jason Burt on the Sunday Supplement.
Bilic saw his side lose 3-0 at Newcastle on Saturday, as West Ham sit bottom of the Premier League without registering a single point from three games.
Despite being heavily backed in the transfer market this summer, Bilic's position is under review, according to Sky sources, but the Daily Telegraph's chief football correspondent Burt says any decision to sack him seems crazy.
He said on Sunday Supplement: "The nature of the defeat has caused real ruptures at West Ham. I think there's real concern now, losing all three games and conceding 10 goals.
"I think it's a real hangover from last season, when there was talk as to whether Bilic would survive.
"I think they're going to have a discussion with the manager this week, possibly as early as Monday. They do have a Monday debrief at West Ham anyway, but I think it's going to take on a new dimension going into the international break.
"It seems crazy, in some ways, three games into the season after letting him bring in the players he wants, and I think it would be harsh. But the concern is there from the board.
"I think it's in the balance, I think it's under consideration, but I think it would be harsh."
The Sunday Times' football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft also believes a decision this early in the season would be wrong, particularly given the investment in the squad so far this summer.
"The judgement shouldn't be so quick. What I don't understand is, if they had doubts coming out of last season, why allow Bilic the investment and wages, I mean Chicharito, Pablo Zabaleta and Joe Hart are big wage investments as much as anything else.
"To make a change so quickly would be another example of the craziness of the business sometimes, to make this huge investment and without even playing a home game to get rid of him. I would have thought he's done enough to earn a bit more time."
Neil Custis believes Bilic's signings have not improved the team, and says bringing in experience in Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta and Javier Hernandez has not necessarily worked.
"You look at his recruiting of Hart, Zalabeta and Hernandez, and it actually doesn't look good. Zabaleta has been found out quickly, a brilliant player for Manchester City, but was on the wane. Hart has been poor.
"Hernandez, people were saying how they couldn't understand why Manchester United got rid of him. I could understand why they got rid of him, because every time he started a game he barely made an impact."
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