West Ham’s head coach Julen Lopetegui began his career with the Hammers with something of a media blitz. Understandably, the new recruit was on a charm offensive and was happy to offer sound bites and headlines as part of his introduction to West Ham.
However, today’s press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Chelsea saw the West Ham gaffer in a far more muted mood as he kept his cards close to his chest.
The West Londoners travel to the London Stadium for the early Premier League kickoff this weekend, and Lopetegui was pressed on all manner of things ahead of the game. There were the usual cliched responses and platitudes towards the opposition, but one can understand why the Irons’ head coach was reticent about revealing anything to do with strategy or team selection. However, the Spaniard was fooling nobody with his generic responses because, make no mistake about it, the former Real Madrid manager is fully aware of the importance of this game.
The 58 year old said all that you would expect as he trotted out the usual stuff about it being an important encounter and Chelsea having good players. But one got the impression he just wanted to get back to the training session which had been halted before this pre-match presser.
There was a certain element of Lopetegui playing possum, but there was a purpose to his demeanour which makes me think that he’s confident of getting a result against Enzo Maresca’s men.
While Lopetegui would neither confirm nor deny the involvement of the likes of Michail Antonio and Niclas Fullkrug, I fully expect a vastly different team to the one which toiled against Fulham last weekend. The Hammers have an excellent record against Chelsea in recent years, and despite their mini renaissance, I see no reason why West Ham can’t beat our London rivals.