Away from the usual names being mentioned as replacements, away from the London Stadium and away from awkward questions, Julen Lopetegui has escaped for a few days to northern Spain to spend time with his family. And who can blame him? Looking tired, drawn and strained, his West Ham team slogging its way to a zero-zero draw against the other worst side in the Premier League in a game which Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker described as ‘the worst PL game they’d ever seen’.
Lopetegui would be forgiven for staying in Spain and e mailing in his resignation. Just the small matter of £6 million in compensation that he’d lose by quitting – so don’t expect him to repeat his ‘Wolves’ walkout any time soon. Broadcasters and pundits continue to assert that his time at West Ham is ending. Latest on talkSPORT is Darren Bent who made an interesting comment regarding a candidate to replace him,
‘Lopetegui has to go but [Graham] Potter better fit than Ruud’ – suggesting Ruud Van Nistelrooy may be in with a shout and would certainly be better placed than the Spaniard to take West Ham forward. Last week Bent again suggested Van Nistelrooy might be in with a shout at West Ham.
Too Risky? Potential head coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy
I’m relieved that common sense prevailed and both co-hosts settled on the ‘Graham Potter’ idea as a fully fledged ready-to-hit-the-ground-running PL quality coach rather than Van Nistelrooy who certainly produced some reaction from his Manchester United team in an emotionally charged few games.
However running a PL team for several seasons is a slightly more complex issue and right now, after the pending ‘failure’ of Lopetegui, West Ham dare not gamble with a high-risk signing. Potter is certainly the safest pair of hands with Premier League expertise who is still likely to improve playing style and long term progression. Let us hope those in the boardroom at West Ham make a similarly sensible, balanced decision!
Frank Lampard – the way of the future.
Potter is not even as good as Moyes haha
you mean like every time he coached Brighton against us (including during Moyese’s tenure) they never lost to us? hmmmm 🤔
p.s. Haha
West Ham are playing even as bad as when Moyes was in charge even though they finished well enough in PL and won Europa Cup against 3rd rate opposition.
The problem with West Ham is they are not fit enough thete is very little urgency in getting the ball forward,too many lateral passes and they don’t track back like a lot of teams do.
Players need to change their attitude and work harder
The way the team is playing at the moment anyone would be better than Flopetegui, we look clueless on the field with no pattern of play, a lack of energy and intensity and as though the players are strangers,nothing is improving and after 4 months with the players that is indicative that nothing will change, if Bowen had a backbone he would call it with the Little Cossack.
We have quality players don’t let Floppy ruin them, hire a coach like Potter that is likely to stay and has a style that gets the best out of players and fans enjoy watching.
Simple, get Nolan back as Head coach and Noble as Manager and let them work it out between them. JLo could sit on the back row of the subs benches and maybe learn something about our club and English football in general.
Rushing into appointing a new manager from the current available stock could lead to complete disaster.
Potter interviewed and was turned down before JL.
Sullivan is not a fan.
For gods sake with names like that no wonder we’re a joke of a club proven manager not so called bull**** bigname
I would take van Nistelrooy all day long just look at Man Utd they were nearly as boring as us under ten haig completely different team yet same squad it’s the difference between a manager that knows what he’s doing and has the respect from the players compared to one that doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing if Sullivan needs proof he’s just got to watch Man Utd befor and after and see the quality of the games since a team capable of getting into the top 6 speaks for itself
When are you ever going to stop all the treachery and support your team. Don’t you think the players and manager are trying as hard as they can to turn things around. Perhaps it would have been better to just introduce new players slowly but give the owners their dues they put up a lot of money trying to move tot the next level so stop the whingeing get behind our great team and give them our support from kickoff to the final whistle just like the best supported teams always do. COYI
Sorry Bill – The Manager is not up to it. Having been to every game so far some of the the players are not trying as hard as they can. Some of the Managers picks – Rodreguiz and Soler are not Premiership standard – The Manager also regularly picks Antonio, Soucek and Coufal – who are nowhere near Premiership quality. As the Manager he should have insisted on a young striker who can run – Fullkrug who is a TS buy cannot and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was out injured for the rest of the season
Sully – invest in the Team ???? – I think the Declan Rice money – Europa League , Sky and money from us mugs who watch this dog pooh every week would account for all of the spend – Maybe Sean Whetstone can advise what actually comes out of Mr Sullivan’s bin and how much he takes out of the club with his deals with his mate Salthouse.
Get behind the Team ! – we are being mugged off big time.
Well said mate 👏
I’m fed up with the anti Tim propaganda and rhetoric driven by Sully and Brady’s mates in the media!
Soler and Rodriguez both obviously JLo’s choices. Both pedestrian players that suit La Liga like our 🤡 coach!
We have all witnessed how completely out of his depth he is at West Ham. Supporting your team is one thing, getting behind the coach is a completely different matter!
It’s always the same ,bad results ,blame the manager.No doubt the present one isn’t perfect but he inherited most of the squad and that’s where the probl3m lies.Buying multiple players isn’t the answer to a successful team,buying the right ones is.Whats needed is a manager who can start from scratch and build a TEAM which West Ham are not at the moment.Lets hope it’s not too late to stay in the Premiership!
I wouldn’t mind Ruud Van Nistelrooy, top top player, and would be motivated to do well.
Modern managers only need to focus on playing staff, they do not have to run the club.
Zola was an even better player than Ruud but that was a disaster for us!
Not convinced by Potter either and going for available managers just shows a complete lack of ambition.
Sully needs to get the best person for the job, not the ones sitting waiting for the phone to ring.
I’m not sure why you bother taking any notice of Darren Bent. He has limited intellectual capacity and his comments are about as sensible as Richard Keys. Btw, it’s “Nil nil”. Zero zero is for Americans 😉
I wouldn’t risk either of them. Van Nistelrooy has little pedigree, Potters experience amounts to a 30% win rate with loads of possession and little end product.
Brighton fans were pleased to see Potter upgraded with De Zerbi. Those stats 30% win rate and possession for possessions sake sound exactly like JLo…..no thanks!