One of the main choices for Julen Lopetegui which could be crucial in the outcome of the next two games – and therefore his West Ham future – is whether to stick or twist with fallen idol Lucas Paquetá.
Brazil’s national coach already seems to have made his mind up, using the midfielder only as a last-few-minutes substitute which was unthinkable twelve months ago. It shows how far Paquetá’s form has slumped.
The Hammers need to distinguish between supporting ‘Paquetá the Individual’ in his upcoming FA enquiry – which I think is a good thing as everybody deserves the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty- and ‘Paquetá the midfielder’ who is woefully out of form and should be left out of the side.
The options are there – none are up to the level of Paquetá at his best but ‘any’ could be argued as better than the ‘Shadow of Paqueta’ alternative who currently offers West Ham about 10% of the old, Brazilian playmaker in his pomp.
Carlos Soler (played centrally please, not as a winger) Andy Irving, Luis Guilherme or Lewis Orford all bring something to the table in terms of pace, creativity, combativeness and energy: Lopetegui should pick one and move ahead with him.
The terrifying triumvirate of Paquetá, Rodriguez and Alvarez has failed to work as a midfield unit so until January replacements arrive, other options can at least plug the gaps far better.
Lopetegui can argue that his forward and defensive options are zero: The same cannot be said of the midfield where the time to put out the same old combination of plodders just has to end.
Imagine, for one moment, a zesty new midfielder hitherto unseen centrally in advance of the defensive options, picking a pass through to the front men and tackling back with commitment equalling Jarrod Bowen: How would that feel to watch?
Does such an option exist? Time to find out, unless he shocks us all by a stroke of genius through converting Konstantinos Mavropanos into the worlds best defensive midfielder!
Surely rather than just plodding to failure anyway the Hammers coach has to be brave and call ‘time’ on the tried and tested and failed midfield formula which he has used to date.
The wait for all the drama that is Newcastle United v West Ham United will be agonising for me. So I can’t imagine what it will be like for Julen Lopetegui.
A Monday night 8pm kick-off (Tuesday morning 4am in Perth) means that I will have to wait until I get up around 6am or so to get my regular dose of Hammer time. It’s like a drug. You know it’s not good for you but you just can’t help it. It’s an addiction!
I’m a West Ham tragic. I really need to get a life. 😨
agreed! even though i know we’re toast, I’ll watch it live instead of saving myself the prolonged pain and flying through the awful mini-match highlights of Newcastle running rampant. why did i have to see that match on the telly in 1976 of a team wearing the same kit as the local State League side my pa took me to see often? why did i care so much that Trev scored a header in 1980?
what makes it worse is that i just turned 58, play central mid or as a wing-back and cover more ground – and more quickly – than our current 3 cm’s. not bigging myself up…just showing how bad i think WH’s midfield is at the moment.
btw Sully, i’m on a free and i grew up in a salt house (oh, i also fit the age criteria)
Excellent mate!! 😂😂😂👊🏼⚒️⚒️⚒️
Just let JLo’s head roll instead of the 🎲
I will be listenIng to our travelling support with interest as I’m sure they will let it be known JLo has to go!
I guarantee Paqueta, Rodriguez and Alvarez will be overrun after 20 minutes and God help us if they score early. They attack at pace from all area’s of the pitch and Eddie Howe will have them primed and ready after the international break. Honestly, with luck we might scrape a point but it would have to be similar to the first half against Utd and Newcastle would have to miss a series of chances but I can’t see that happening.
Maybe God WILL help us if they score early! Because they’ll probably go on and score a few more. That could mean Sullivan has justification to sack Lopetegui and find another reject coach from the dole queue! You gotta laugh at our club. 🤣 Everybody else is.
We had a chance to show ambition and show real progression when Moyes left.
Sully has just made us a banter club with his joke appointment 🤦♂️
We used up all our luck vs Man Utd!
The Geordies will rip us apart with their midfield and pacey skilful attacking players.
I play FPL (Fantasy Premier League) Isak triple captain 🧢 could score more than Salah’s total for the season in this match alone!