Zola Under Big Pressure After Bolton Defeat
by Richard Smith / 16 December 2009, 09:33TweetGianfranco Zola endured a nightmare at the Reebok Stadium on Tuesday night as he watched his West Ham team go down to relegation rivals Bolton with a limp display, the result means that the Hammers are down in 19th place and looking in dire trouble. The Sack Race reported last week that the upcoming to games could be vital for West Ham in terms of remaining in the Premier League and they have since gone on to lose to Birmingham and then to Bolton on Tuesday, the loss to struggling Bolton is the hammer blow for the Irons and Zola is now looking far from certain in his job at Upton Park as the fans start to grow impatient.
The performance at Bolton was a poor one with Robert Green making a howler along the way to dent their confidence even further, West Ham kept control of the ball well but struggled in the final third without star striker Carlton Cole in the side. Cole is out until the new year which is a worry for Zola as the team look short of ideas up front without their England forward, that coupled with the news of Dean Ashton's retirement last week at the age of 26 means that all-in-all its been a terrible week for the former Chelsea striker.
All of this is going on while the club is in the midst of takeover talks with several potential buyers already declaring their interest, former Birmingham City owners David Sullivan and David Gold are the reported front runners and they will be desperate to see the Hammers stay in the Premier League should they take control of the club. Zola will know that he needs to start picking up points as soon as possible if he is to steer the club to safety but things are not getting any easier as West Ham face Zola's former club and league leaders Chelsea at Upton Park this Sunday.
The bookies have been monitoring the situation closely at Upton Park over recent weeks and the Next Premier League Manager to be Sacked Odds are not looking good for Zola, the one thing he does have in his favour is that he is still reasonably popular on the terraces which he will hope will stay with him over the next couple of weeks.
