Under fire from media in his home country when he last appeared for Ghana, apparently Irons’ young winger Mohammed Kudus is now struggling to cope with criticism from his new coach at West Ham and there are stories of he and Lopetegui ‘squaring up’ to each other at half time against Brentford. Kudus has achieved a lot for one so young but if he is to rise to the levels of a top quality player then somebody needs to get hold of him and help him.
Dressing room bust-up stories are not new- from David Beckham’s boot incident to more recent reports in The Sun of fights between Manchester United players and Ten Hag intervening. What is troubling is not the incident itself but the effect such conflict has on the team. West Ham would do well to learn from history that such internal bust-ups need quashing. Fast.
Dressing room bus-up’s are nothing new for West Ham or Lopetegui
Leadership needed to heal rifts
History is full of dressing-room dramas which have disastrous team consequences: Harry Redknapp managed a Queens Park Rangers side that in 2013 had a dreadful disciplinary attitude and suffered relegation as a result. His story in the Daily Mail is well worth a read and a cautionary tale:
“So what they had was a squad full of very average footballers earning more money than they deserved. It made them very arrogant and contemptuous. They would rather come in late every day and just pay the fine than behave in a professional manner. Getting them in was daily aggravation”.
That’s what happens when nobody steps up to stop the rot.
Our own cult hero Paolo Di Canio, by this stage Swindon Town Manager, was involved in a physical altercation according to Onefootball: “Former Swindon Town striker Leon Clarke and ex-manager Di Canio came to blows after a League Cup match against Southampton and their less than amicable exchange was captured by the television cameras filming the game.. The Italian grabbed Clarke by his shirt and dragged him into the tunnel where reportedly blows were exchanged between the pair. Clarke never kicked a ball for Swindon again and one week later was sent packing to Chesterfield on loan for the rest of the season.”
Kudus himself might reflect on that. It doesn’t normally end well for the player.
Apart from anything else West Ham’s Board have an £85 million investment in Kudus which needs protecting at least until the summer – when as we suspect, he will be off. If he gains notoriety at home and internationally as a ‘problem child’ then his value will plummet.
The effect on dressing room morale would be disastrous. Time for some level heads.
This situation needs rectifying immediately if the fall-out is not going to wreck West Ham’s season. The Coach, Technical Director and coaching staff need to work out their end-game here: The Hammers are vulnerable right now with a new Captain, nine new players in the dressing room and their other ‘senior’ pro waiting for the result of a hearing that could ban him for life. Leadership seems in short supply.
Just a rumour but he’s had the exact same criticism for Ghana. Except they didnt drop or sub him off as they dont have replacements in a squad low on quality. Holding onto the ball for too long, not getting his head up, selfish, playing for himself not the team. Thats the issue, he’s become totally ineffective in every position as teams now deny him space ( double or triple up on him ) in 2nd season syndrome.
His attitude seems to have coincided with a change in agent to a family member? Reece Oxford, Arnautovic with their new agent telling them they are too good for West Ham.
Shame but egos, narcissism, lack of intelligence and greed strike once again.
Exactly so, criticism of his international form https://www.claretandhugh.info/kudus-hits-back-i-ghana-criticism-answered/
Fair play to Lopetegui if the rumours are true of a half time bust up.Harsh facts are Kudus hasn’t turned up this season as well as others like Paqueta,every player has to have criticism at some point in there career,it’s how you deal with it which makes you grow as a player.
The problem with many young players in todays game is that from a very young age they have smoke blown up there arse telling them there the best thing since sliced bread and that’s where the problems begin,to many big egos that lose touch with reality and can’t handle any criticism that comes there way.
If he’s thrown his toys out the pram then hopefully this rumoured row with Lopetegui will make him realise that he is droppable if he doesn’t up his game,let’s see if he’s got the heart and balls to deal with it and let’s see just how much our club means to him not just the pay packet.
The other side of the coin is that Loppety Guy has an almost leg-breaking bad temper, as particularly demonstrated at the Chelsea match was it? He’s a suitable case for anger management therapy.
With Loppy mad because his tactics aren’t working, and Kudie fed up being played out of position, it’s not surprising something snapped.
Enough about that, David. You forgot to tell all your readers what you had for dinner last night or breakfast this morning. I mean, come on, we need to know!
From what I’ve seen of his team selections and sideline histrionics, Dopetegui might want to display a bit more competency and professionalism. We’ve seen Kudus perform at a high level before, Dopetegui not so much. Would rather play Kudus as CF, CAM, or RW and be done with this clown manager. I’m sure these players can see through this fraud.
Childish name calling just makes your post look, childish.
Toughen up soy boy.
; )
Why? and what’s a soy boy, second thoughts i’d rather not know
If the manager has any sense he will call in Mark Noble and have clear the air talks with the player. I always believe meeting these things head on is the best approach!
Kudus needs to adapt, his dribbling proficiency has been rumbled and he is being stopped by three. What he needs to do is draw the three in then pass to where the three are now not.
That’s both his and the teams way out of it as once he’s done that a few times teams will be less eager to commit three.
You would hope that could be got through to him without a dust up, but equally what does Lopetegui do if he continues to run into trebling ups and losing the ball ?
What about taking him off the left?
I’ve seen him thwart a triple team!
This guy is not the problem! My goodness, he’s our most threatening player by far but he’s being diminished by being played in the wrong position. For crying out loud, try this:
Summerville LW
Kudus CAM
Bowen RW
Any of the three stooges ST
That would be miles better than ANY setup this schmuck manager has run out there.