Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that the form of goalkeeper Roberto contributed to his dismissal at West Ham United.
In the summer, Pellegrini opted to bring in the 33-year-old as backup to Lukasz Fabianski, only for the senior stopper to spend much of the first half of the campaign on the sidelines.
Roberto made several high-profile mistakes, which ultimately led to Pellegrini replacing the 33-year-old with third-choice David Martin.
However, the Hammers board opted to sack the Chilean during the latter stages of 2019, and the veteran boss has acknowledged that the team "lost confidence" as a result of Roberto's performances.
Speaking to La Tercera, Pellegrini said: "Unfortunately, we had a major injury, from the goalkeeper [Lukasz Fabianski] of four months. And the performance of the second [Roberto] was not as expected.
"He had responsibility in several goals. The team was losing confidence, the results were denied and the owners decided to change."
Roberto has since been loaned out to Alaves for the rest of the season.
Darren Plant
