West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui sidestepped awkward questions about Niclas Füllkrug’s performance with measured diplomacy during his pre-match press conference.
The German striker, making his first Premier League start for the Hammers against Brighton last weekend, struggled to leave an impression. His display, widely viewed as lacklustre, was perhaps magnified by the high expectations surrounding his return from injury.
While Füllkrug appeared off the pace, his positioning also raised eyebrows. The 31-year-old frequently drifted to wide areas, a tactic that would likely have gone unnoticed if Michail Antonio had been leading the line. Whether this was a deliberate instruction from Lopetegui or the striker’s own decision remains unclear. However, asking a target man to play out wide seems an illogical way to maximise his potential.
Füllkrug wasn’t Lopetegui’s preferred signing, with the Spaniard originally favouring a more mobile striker adept in wide roles. Instead, it was Tim Steidten who identified and recruited Füllkrug—a point confirmed by the player and Claret & Hugh sources.
Now, Lopetegui must find a way to adapt. For Füllkrug to thrive, he’ll need consistent service in the box. Yet, his substitution against Brighton, which coincided with an immediate improvement in the team’s performance, casts doubt over his role in the starting XI. It seems improbable he’ll start the Boxing Day clash against Southampton, despite Lopetegui’s diplomatic stance.
“We lost an important player in Antonio for a long time, and it’s true Füllkrug hasn’t been at his best. Danny Ings is doing well, and Jarrod Bowen can play there too, so we have options,” Lopetegui explained.
“Sometimes the timing hasn’t helped Füllkrug, as he was out for over three months. Now he’s back and ready to help us in the second half of the season. He might start games or come off the bench—we’ll see”
Lopetegui needs reminding that he has not got an option with Ings. I’m afraid he is no longer a premiership player
Steidten wanted Gyokeres but someone else didn’t. He then wanted Duran but yet another someone else wasn’t prepared to pay the bit extra. How much are those two worth now ?
There should have been no reason for Fullkrug who looks like he may well cost us more yet.
Steidten recommended Amorim and Hoeness but Lopetegui was decided to be a better appointment.
It seems to me that others make our problems for us.
FFS John, we all know about Gykores, you tell us every effing day! Change your tune mate.
Sadly we’ve been without a striker like Fullkrug for so long we’ve forgotten how to play with one.
The problem is the same as with Haller and Scamacca. We’ve had inferior coaches who do not know how to get the best out of strikers.
I know I stick up for him, but playing Füllkrug as a lone target man is utterly pointless. He can make goals if supplied with decent balls, and can score goals if there’s players around him and not huge spaces without a claret & blue shirt in sight.
I was amazed we bought him seeing as we’ve failed 3 times in a row to play strikers to their strengths.
If you look at how he plays for Germany the amount of service he gets is off the scale, and he is a provider of goals. He must be wondering why he joined us and dreaming of playing with the likes of Musiala and Wirz pinging balls in for him to get on the end off. He was isolated on Saturday in a drab first half with our players so far apart it looked like they were avoiding each other.
Summerville did feck-all as a replacement, just runs faster.
I hope Füllkrug is sold to a club with ambition and a good coach as his career will go down the pan at the bowl. Really sad to see such an ideal player for us being used so poorly. Yes, the injury was an utter nightmare but he’s come back in to a dreadful team.
So many players were garbage on Saturday it was painful to watch. Don’t get me started on Kilman and dozy AWB.
Loved seeing Ollie come on again. He needs minutes too.
Get rid of the big-time Charlie’s too like Kudus and Paquetá who think they’re too good for us, along with Argentina’s mascot.
I must say that JLo’s presser’s are even less informative than his predecessor’s – I don’t even bother to look out for them any more as we are not likely to learn anything useful from them
Hopefully we can avoid the new manager bounce and get 3 points before being fed to the Scousers and then allowing Citeh to return to winning ways