Former West Ham forward Tony Cottee is the latest to criticise head coach Julen Lopetegui, who is coming under increasing pressure as he seeks to retain his job. Prominent media outlets like The Standard and Fabrizio Romano have intensified the scrutiny on Lopetegui in the past 24 hours, with some claiming he could lose his West Ham position if he fails to win either of his next two games.
This morning, talkSPORT invited Cottee onto their breakfast show to share his thoughts on the club’s current predicament. Alan Brazil asked the former Hammers striker if he was confident that Lopetegui could steer the team out of trouble, and Cottee’s response was scathing. He replied, “No, I’m not, Al. I’ve got to be honest; I didn’t want him in the first place.”
The Irons legend continued, “I made my feelings quite clear and said, be careful what you wish for. I thought David Moyes did a superb job. I didn’t see the appointment of Lopetegui as a progressive step; it’s a sideways step. He’s pretty much the same age and has the same tactics as David Moyes; he wasn’t a young, dynamic manager.”
While it’s hard to argue with any of Cottee’s points, it feels as if many are lining up to kick a man when he is down. The Spaniard has endured a rough start to his West Ham career, and some of his tactics and team selections have been questionable. However, we are only in the second month of the season, and the manager is under immense pressure. Saturday’s Premier League match against Brentford has become crucial for him, if not for the club.
The COACH hasn’t been allowed to get past the basics yet ! french, greek, Spanish, Portuguese , Italian, Czech, German, English plus all its dialects, together with his ‘ hesitant Spanish communications. a veritable Squad of
United Nations. have l left anyone out?
how can it be possible to analyse and put in practice the finer aspects of one touch football? of course I also forgot most of the squad also disappeared for long periods of international duty .while l believe it is essential for proper pre planning , clear methods for communications are paramount .
He has been anti west ham ever since they dropped him as club ambassador.
Go and torment the club you said you always wanted to play for EVERTON
Yeah, not only does Loppety Guy have a spoken communication problem. Worse than that he might need anger management therapy. How can you make rational tactical decisions with smoke coming out of your ears and.your legs banging up and down?
Whether the cause of that anger is that the players couldn’t / wouldn’t do what he wanted, or the tactics were crap, is another cause for concern.
He’s playing tombola, pick some shirt numbers if they don’t win pick some more, then some more. Gambling away hoping by good fortune some numbers will come up trumps. A game of chance.
Cottee in his prime walked out on West Ham, when we needed him most. It suited him to leave.
The fans can’t do that, we’re stuck with what we are given! I do find it difficult to understand what Loppy is saying, and maybe the players have the same problem. Still hasn’t decided on a settled team or formation which is worrying.
Dont want to kick a man when hes down, but at the moment there is no sign that the team are playing to any kind of system, indeed no sign of change from last season. Defending is poor, total lack of pace in midfield, too many older players recruited – for which Moyes was criticised; it seems as though nothing has changed except a backward step. Unfortunately its starting to look a lot like Pellegrini’s time…..
This guy is a bell end look at who we have lost to villa liverpool man city chelsea. Claims to be West Ham through and theough but talks utter s@@@ can’t stand the guy always ceitical. couple of good seasons in the eighties the awful for the rest of his career. Move on give the manager an opportunity.