West Ham United have had a troubling start to their Premier League campaign and the players’ relationship with their head coach is under the spotlight right now with the news of dressing room bust up ‘s seemingly denied then confirmed then ‘resolved’ all within the last 24 hours. Interesting, then to get an objective opinion on the Catalan head coach from one who served under him prior to his joining West Ham.
Spanish defender Hugo Bueno worked under Lopetegui at Wolves, and forged a great working relationship with his countryman. Speaking to as.com, the 22 year-old defender now with Dutch club Feyenoord was full of praise for his former coach, in a manner that will perhaps be reassuring to Hammers fans. When asked if he played his best football under Lopetegui, Bueno responded:
“I think so, until now, because I can still grow more, I have been at my best under Lopetegui at Wolves. For me, he is a great coach. He is very demanding and made me take a step forward. And that allowed me to play very good games in a competition as demanding as the Premier League.”
Asserting that Lopetegui will turn the corner at London Stadium, Bueno asserted: “Now I am at Feyenoord, and he is at West Ham. They haven’t started the season well, but I’m sure the team will get better and better. As soon as they start winning, they will go up and finish the season in a good position in the Premier League.”
No mention of last minute squad or system changes, to be honest, bit we’ll assume those ‘experiments are now locked away in a dark cupboard marked ‘do not enter’ – Lopetegui can be demanding and hopefully get the whole squad moving forwards – as one unit- with a win on Saturday.
Don’t expect Ipswich to be easy. They’re on a run of 4 unbeaten & we don’t have the best of records against promoted teams.