While it is still very early days, chairman David Sullivan and the Hammers hierarchy won’t be pleased at how West Ham have begun 2024/2025, having spent around £120 million on nine new signings in a statement of backing for their new head coach.
West Ham have won just once in the Premier League so far, and that came in late August with a 2-0 win away to struggling Crystal Palace. Since then, Lopetegui’s watched his side get put to the sword by Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool in all competitions, with Aston Villa also reigning victorious over West Ham on the league’s opening weekend.
It could’ve been worse as well, given it took a last-gasp Danny Ings strike to rescue a point away at Fulham, but West Ham did display fighting spirit to battle back from Bryan Mbeumo’s first-minute goal to salvage a draw away to Brentford on Saturday.
Former West Ham recruitment chief Mick Brown, who left the club in June, told Football Insider this week that Lopetegui is “definitely” at risk of being sacked by the east Londoners if things don’t turn around quickly – especially considering the Spaniard has big shoes to fill in club hero David Moyes.“I think there’s more pressure on him after what David Moyes managed to do,” said Brown.
“When 60,000 people are saying they don’t want this and they want a different type of football, the board have had to be careful with their decision. It’s always difficult trying to judge what the owners and directors will do. Their knowledge of the game is not great and they’ve made many mistakes in the past. They were warned to be careful what they wished for, but having made that decision [replacing Moyes with Lopetegui], they’re wary of making another mistake.I don’t know Lopetegui and I don’t know how he works, but if we’re looking at the results he’s had so far, which is what the game is about, he’s definitely at risk.”There have also been murmurs of a dressing room altercation between Lopetegui and West Ham star Mohammed Kudus, but this has now been played down by sources.
West Ham players “surprised” by Lopetegui’s last-minute team changes
According to GiveMeSport, what Lopetegui has done behind the scenes has baffled West Ham players too.Indeed, it is believed the 58-year-old’s been making last-minute changes to his starting-line ups. Lopetegui’s decision to switch to a back-three against Chelsea “surprised” West Ham players in particular, with his late tactical calls taking members of the squad off guard.
It would seem as if the former Real Madrid and Spain manager is still working out the kinks of his new-look team and figuring out his best line-up, but it is no shock that players would have their heads turned by a sudden change of plans on matchday either.
To try and muster a rich vein of form, things do need to settle behind the scenes, and reports of player unrest certainly don’t help in that regard.