Understandably, West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui was unwilling to discuss any specifics regarding last weekend’s well-publicised row with Mohammed Kudus.
The Spaniard spoke during his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Ipswich Town, where one got the impression he would rather be somewhere else.
This is not to level any criticism at Lopetegui, who wisely dodged the Kudus question, although he may have been grateful for the journalists’ reluctance to press him on the matter.
All he would say was, “Again, it’s important the team plays well, rather than one or two players. Football is a collective game, and the only way I know how to be able to be strong is to play as a team.”
Realistically, there is little else the Hammers boss could say about the situation, and I’m quite hopeful that as long as the Ghanaian is selected in the starting lineup at the weekend, the story will dissipate.
In many respects, the reported dressing room clash possibly diverted attention away from the team’s poor form ahead of what is surely a must-win game for West Ham.
Don’t agree that failing to address the question of the Kudus speculation is either understandable or little else he could have said. This has dominated the press and media with daily reports and rumours of a dressing room bust up. He had the perfect opportunity to put the rumours to bed but now the speculation continues with ridiculous reports of Kudus being benched for the Ipswich game.
The manager seems completely incapable of leading the transformation from the Moyes approach and despite spending £150 million we are nowhere near top 8 standards after his bewildering team selections. Players out of position and defensive lineup changes every game. Last thing we need is more negative rumours continuing at a time when we are already talking about must win games in the first few months of the season.
Yes John.
We are struggling and it’s going to be a tough season.
Too many of our players look out of form and nervous!
The manager looks the same and personally I don’t think he can inspire the team.
Lots of promises were made about exciting football, but i don’t see anything different from Moyes.
But here we are in October facing a must win game against one of the promoted teams.
We can only hope that something changes.
COYI
After six games we’ve played 2nd 4th 5th 6th 12th and 18th. Four from six in the top six.
We lost to 2nd 4th and 5th. Drew with 6th and 12th. And beat 18th.
Can anyone else see a pattern there…
Yep. We’re s@@ against anyone in the top 17!!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Yes we are s@@