I'd agree with that, Weasel, about West Ham but you implied something else, maybe you didn't mean it.
With regards to his comments pre-game about SUFC that's been misinterpreted, it's ridiculous to think that any professional manager is unprepared about the opposition, especially one who's lasted so long at such a high level..
When he described United as "direct" this was taken to mean as we, in our understated British way, consider teams who play Watford/Wimbledon 80s style hoofball.
But In Spanish speaking countries it just means a team who prefer move from back to front quickly. Real Madrid's style over the decades is described as "direct".
His other pre game comments were that we always play the same way, we have strong players who work hard, and we like to get the ball into the box.
So when Pellegrini called Utd direct then, what he actually meant in his Spanish speaking misinterpretation, was that we prefer to move the ball from back to front quickly? , and that we like to get the ball in the box?
Two observations from those words of wisdom then.
Firstly, moving the ball from back to front quickly. Do we? Personally i think we dont do this as much as many other teams do, we don't play too many long balls, we mix it up, play a lot of neat and tidy football in little triangles, work it out wide when we can and try to work on overload out wide often with the wing back. Hardly getting it up front as quickly as possible. I suppose if the long ball is on and a dangerous advantage can be gained (like the long ball down the wing to Moose v Watford resulting in Flecks chance) then we take it, but none more so than any other team.
Secondly, we like to get the ball in the oppositions box...? Er, well yes I suppose we do, but then doesn't every team, because the aim of the game is to try and score goals.
Seemingly then, and taking on board your interpretation of his comments about Utd, his comments showed that he was either completely ignorant of the way we actually play and he was seeing a different team to what most of us see, or he was lazy and hadn't done his homework on us.
Either way, his pre match comments were bizarre for such a seasoned professional.
Maybe he's not lazy at all, maybe he is gutted about being sacked from WHU and having to take that big pay off for termination of service with 18 months still on his contract to go, or maybe he's not overly fussed either way. Either way he can have no complaints on his sacking.