Julen Lopetegui became West Ham’s 18th manager in its 129-year-old history, starting his tenure with 3 points in his first two matches. However, despite the ambivalence of the results, the Spaniard’s style seems clear: he wants a hard-working team that will harass the opponents when defending, only to do almost everything to bring the ball into the box after recovering it.
West Ham fans enjoyed a nice string of decent results under David Moyes, with three consecutive European campaigns that saw The Hammers tasting again continental success, thanks to the Conference League triumph in 2023. It wasn’t enough to keep the Scottish manager in high regard among The Irons support, though, as he left fuming this last summer.
The employment of Julen Lopetegui, a Spaniard who resuscitated bleeding Wolves two seasons ago only to leave them just two days before the 2023/24 season, raised some eyebrows. The 57-year-old manager came not only to achieve Premier League success but to do it in style, so questions about his capacity to do so are raised.
Two PL games into the 2024/25 season, and we’ve already been offered glimpses of what to expect.
Smart-aggressive defending is the norm
Julen Lopetegui’s tactics don’t necessarily rely on possession, so we should expect to see West Ham running for the ball. With the opponents having more of the ball, we would expect an aggressive team, but West Ham is only 16th in the PL tackles rankings, with 34, according to BetBrain.
The Hammers’ new identity pillars are intelligent play and smart aggressiveness. The PL Leader in terms of fouls, with 35 offences, West Ham is only 18th if you count the yellow cards received over the two rounds, with only two breaches.
As a comparison, with only 13 fouls committed by each, Manchester City already received three yellow cards (on 72% average possession!), whilst Brentford raised the bard to four.
Another relevant aspect is the number of interceptions, where West Ham is third in the PL rankings, with 21, despite having a decent average possession of 46%.
“You have to defend well, press well, and be together to overcome the bad moments” – Julen Lopetegui, following Crystal Palace win
Attacking plays’ motto: “Play the ball forward!”
When recovering the ball, West Ham’s patience in defense transforms into effervescence. The main two directions of play are quick, long balls directed to the target man or actions down the flanks to bring the play into the opposition box.
Lopetegui’s style is entirely different from Guardiola’s tiki-taka. He only wants the ball played forward, regardless of the risks implied. In the first two PL rounds, West Ham ranked 17th at balls played backward, even if it has the 12th number of passes.
The two center-backs, Kilman and Mavropanos, are mainly responsible for this. West Ham leaders in terms of touches, with 167 and 137, respectively, the two members of the defensive couple are accompanied by Lucas Paqueta and Vladimir Coufal in the long-ball assessments.
As of now, the alternative was bringing the ball into the box and shooting it quickly. West Ham is 3rd in total shots, with 32, while 75% of those came from inside the area. Actually, all three Hammers’ goals came from within the 18-yard box.
With 39 crosses completed, the fifth most in the Premier League, Lopetegui’s focus on target-man player involvement is evident. Until now, Michail Antonio kept his place in the first eleven, as Lopetegui started with identical teams against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace. However, Niclas Füllkrug was the most used substitute, with 44 minutes played.
Thomas Soucek broke the ice against the London rivals and probably saved his place among the starters, but rumours about Lopetegui’s preference for Edson Alvarez surfaced. No matter what, it’s clear that Lopetegui involves all his players, as he underlined after the Crystal Palace victory.
“We have to highlight this kind of behaviour from all players: the team from the pitch, the one from the bench, the players that didn’t play – all of them are main actors.”
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