A 5-2 home defeat to Arsenal raised further questions about Julen Lopetegui’s reign as West Ham head coach, who commented that Arsenal didn’t deserve five goals by half time. Maybe his view from the stands wasn’t very clear as his counterpart Mikel Arteta had a different perspective “The quality, the understanding, the purpose and how the boys played and competed, it was second to none.”
Lopetegui’s comments were bizarre given there were some big mistakes on the pitch – lack of marking for Gabriel’s opener, Paquetas trip on Saka which contributed to a penalty and Kilmans failure to intercept a ball which led to a goal.
Jarrod Bowen openly admitted after the game that the team made some mistakes and ultimately weren’t good enough.
Arsenal had 60% possession, 16 shots, 7 on target to West Ham’s 12 shots, with 5 on target. The game played out to the script, as in the last 135 games between both clubs, the Gunners have 68 wins versus the Hammers 31.
West Ham have now lost all six games against teams in the top eight, and thoughts are focussed more on a relegation dog fight as opposed to a European place.
One small positive from the game was the performance of Carlos Soler, who was involved with the assist to Wan-Bissakas goal on 38 minutes. The Spanish international has struggled since he joined West Ham on loan from PSG, yet in recent games is showing glimpses of form that persuaded Lopetegui to bring him in during the summer transfer window. He was replaced by Irving on 78 minutes, as he faded late on in the second half.
On the day though it was Arsenals players that won the accolades- Odegaard completed more passes in the final third than any other player on the pitch, with Saka a close second. Both players linked up well on the pitch, and Saka registered the most touches in the West Ham box.
The win takes Arsenal to second place, while West Ham remain 14th, on 15 points.
Next up is Leicester City away, just five points behind West Ham. Mohammed Kudus will be available for selection in this must win game, having served a five match ban.
The foxes recently appointed Ruud Van Nistelrooy and will be looking to get their season under way having suffered a heavy defeat at Brentford.
It’s time that Sullivan owned that the appointment of Lopetegui has not been a success and is not going to be a success. Things cannot continue as they are and he needs to act.
I agree that we can’t blame the ref – let us not forget the refereeing error that won us the game against Manure – even without yesterday’s errors we would have lost so on the errors cancelling each other out we are actually 2 points to the good
See the manager that noble wanted and our little horrible dwarf wouldn’t pay the release fee is doing ok in his first 3 games. Oh yea I forgot he’s no good . He’s got no premier league experience