PELLEGRINI: I WAS ROB-BED

MANUEL PELLEGRINI has blamed flop goalkeeper Roberto for getting him the sack at West Ham – despite backing the Spaniard during his time there.

Pellegrini was replaced by David Moyes over the Christmas period after a shocking run of nine defeats in 12 games.

During that spell, the Chilean routinely dismissed criticism of reserve keeper Roberto (right).

But he has finally admitted he was wrong to bring Roberto in, and said there was overwhelming evidence he was not good enough.

Pellegrini said: “Unfortunately, we had a major injury with Lukasz Fabianski. And the performance of Roberto was not as expected.

“He had responsibility in several goals. The team was losing confidence and the owners decided to change.”

Concerns over Roberto were first expressed shortly after first-choice Fabianski suffered a hip injury in September in the 2-0 win over Manchester United. And the Spaniard was so poor in the 4-0 Carabao Cup defeat at Oxford that several players openly questioned his abilities. West Ham failed to win any of the nine games he played as understudy, but Pellegrini (top) refused to drop him until the board ordered him to do so for the win at Chelsea in November. Roberto was back in goal for just one more match – a home defeat to Leicester – before Pellegrini was sacked and Fabianski returned to fitness. Pellegrini added: “In football, players lose confidence and you, as a coach, must find the solution.”