Manuel Pellegrini has hailed a ‘massive’ performance from Felipe Anderson after West Ham record signing hit back at his critics with a crucial brace against Burnley.
After a string of poor performances, the Brazilian was hauled off at half time during the midweek defeat to Tottenham, with Pellegrini calling on his star man to step it up ahead of today’s game.
The Chilean said, despite recent showings, there was no chance of the £42million signing being dropped against the Clarets, and he repaid him with two second half goals, either side of a Chris Wood equaliser, with Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez also netting in the 4-2 win.
Goals aside, everything about Anderson’s showing was improved from the past month, and it didn’t go unnoticed in the dugout.
"Yes I am happy for him, because we know what he can give us," Pellegrini told Standard Sport.
"I said before the game that maybe some players need more time to adapt to the League but he has commitment has always been 100 per cent. He was the first person not happy with his performances.
"I talked a lot with him, he never had no chance of not playing today. He knew from the beginning that despite playing bad against Tottenham, he was going to play today.
"It was a massive performance."
Pellegrini also reserved praise for both Hernandez and Michail Antonio who, off the bench, combined for the final goal following slow starts to the season.
"I always talk with the players after the game how important substitutes are,” he added. “Maybe in our team, in other games they came in and didn't have the mentality to do it but today both of them came in with a lot of desire."
