One of the many comments that passed without notice during Julen Lopetegui’s recent press interviews was a plea for Edson Alvarez to calm down.
Speaking to US sports network CBS, Lopetegui said, “We love his passion [Alvarez] and understand it is a big part of his game. But sometimes you need to understand when to show less passion and to stay focused on the game. Alvarez is a big player for this club and for the project.”
While J-Lo remained as calm and charming as ever, his point was quite evident. Alvarez is a fine player; however, he misses far too many games due to ill discipline and suspension. The Mexican has been suggested as one of the many candidates for the West Ham captaincy.
Unfortunately, his tendency to pick up cards and suspensions probably rules him out of the running, despite his obvious leadership qualities. Clearly, the Spanish head coach has done his homework on West Ham and knows precisely the players he is inheriting from David Moyes.
Whether he can get West Ham’s defensive midfielder to curb some of his more feisty instincts remains to be seen, but it won’t be for want of trying.
I reckon he would be ideal as wearing our armband failing that jwp
Maybe making him captain with responsibilities might calm him down a bit
i agree. using myself as an example, i was a bit of a loose cannon on the park some times, mouthing off, etc, and it annoyed the hell out of my team mates. one year, they forced me into the captaincy. i was much calmer, responsible, had my best season as a footballer and led us to the final. hopefully, if given the armband, the same would apply to Alvarez if the situation arises. we have 3 options only for captain, i believe. Alvarez, Bowen or Kilman, who already knows how to do the job
Lopetegui has a valid point as Alvarez is an important player for west ham! He’s not going to be playing a lot if he’s ill disciplined and picks up cards regularly as he’s done this season.