West Ham’s victory against Newcastle United on Monday night introduced me to a whole new feeling under the stewardship of Julen Lopetegui—I’m actually looking forward to watching our next game.
As ridiculous as it sounds, I had been approaching each fixture with a sense of foreboding and dread, so this newfound anticipation feels strange.
In many respects, it’s unfortunate that the Hammers’ next game is a very tough London derby against Arsenal because I can’t wait to see the team play again.
This is in stark contrast to how I felt for the majority of the season, where performances had been so poor they killed any hope of improvement. However, now, for the first time, I believe we’re seeing the glimmers of not only a cohesive strategy but also a team selection capable of implementing Lopetegui’s tactics.
Of course, the recently stubbled and dishevelled Hammers head coach must continue with this team and strategy, but there is hope.
As for Lopetegui, the last few weeks must have been exhausting and have certainly taken their toll. The poor fella looked like he’d walked to Newcastle without food or water, but his players performed for him and executed the tactics to perfection.
So onwards and upwards. Arsenal next is a toughie, but we can at least now hope. It’s amazing what a win can do.
I see that there has been support for Andoni Iraola to be our new manager – I just checked and he only won one of his first 10 games in charge of Bournemouth – so perhaps we still need to be patient with J Lo
what is all this rubbish about Loopy looking dishevelled and world-weary, or whatever it is?
the guy hasn’t shaved for 4 or 5 days. he’s clearly growing a beard!!! it’s gonna be pretty cold out there very soon. christ, appearances mean everything, don’t they!? 🤔…um, no they don’t.
people can injure themselves when over-stretching. same with the brain!
The focus on current manager and team selection takes me back to 1962 when we bought Johnny Byrne from Palace at record British fee of £65000. He was pretty useless for most of first season plus Ron Greenwood put a wing half alongside him, Geoff Hurst!
It was not until the Spring that the team started to gell and the rest is history! So perhaps we need to keep faith as fans as our manager is extremely experienced and he knows the club want a change of direction. These days you don’t get the time and space to try things and players out with social media producing instant and incessant pressure. In the 60s the best you could do was send a letter!!
So many people on here lurch from ridiculous optimism to utter despair depending on results. As I have said all season, we have a new manager and 9 new players and it will take a long time for them to gel. If the manager is given time I expect a very inconsistent season where tenth place would be considered a good finish.
I agree. And it hasn’t been all doom and gloom. Ipswich and the second half against Man U were as good as Newcastle. But the performances vary. With a few signings in January I’m sure the consistency will improve. But don’t expect anything from the Arsenal match. It’s too early.