West Ham have the reputation for sticking with their managers / head coaches: Whilst that may not always be the right thing to do, the board are trying to persevere with Julen Lopetegui in the face of media and fan criticism. Many fans, pundits and critics alike claim it is simply down to money. David Sullivan is renown for not wanting to pay severance packages on parting company any more than he wants to pay compensation for taking new head coaches already in employment with another club.
Take a look at the image. It isn’t Julen Lopetegui in the pits of despair.
It is actually Ruben Amorim, the hot-shot manager who West Ham ‘missed out on’, enduring a torrid time at new club Manchester United.
Many West Ham fans were desperate to bring Amorim to West Ham as the perfect Lopetegui replacement.
Having been very vocal in my criticism of the West Ham board for failing to secure the ‘ambitious’, exciting young coach, I do feel it appropriate to show that his was not a recipe for instant success.
The Athletics article “Manchester United and Ruben Amorim are in a storm – who knows when it will pass?” Describes in detail the painful seven points from the last seven games and five defeats in his first ten – which may go some way to justify West Ham’s decision to stick with Lopetegui. Far from seeing a ‘new manager’ bounce, many clubs, including United, dive further before pulling out of a slump.
Whilst it would be wrong to claim West Ham have dodged a bullet, it may be that the measured response of giving Lopetegui time to develop will prove to be correct: Noticeable how the pro-Amorim faction seem have disappeared from Claret and Hugh’s chat ! Manchester United dropped below West Ham yesterday: Lets hope at least that that situation continues for the remainder of the season.
Yes you can judge Amorim as doing far worse than the previous manager ten Haag with the same players.
The premier league is a real wake up call and Manchester United the biggest poisoned chalice in football. Infact any manager who goes to that club seems cursed.
Mr. Moyes could take mediocre players and create a solid team. But they are still mediocre and under Mr. Lopetegui, it shows. If the whole of WHU starting 11 were English, how many would play regularly for country? The same number as do currently, none.
With the current ownership, no manager wants to come, no players want to come and the fans can’t be bothered. The London Stadium will be half full of Scousers on Sunday as proof.
Think any manager that takes on the Manchester United job is on a hiding to nothing. Lot of change needed there, but most coaches won’t turn that job down due to the size of the club.
I don’t think Amorim struggling there is validation that the right choice was made by us to not bring him in.
Whether it was Amorim or another young manager doing well elsewhere, this summer was an opportunity to go in a completely different direction. Which I think is what most fans wanted. But instead it was more of the same in terms of the appointment made. Unemployed, late fifties, and generally regarded as a safe pair of hands by the owner. Not particularly inspiring, but generally goes in line with most appointments made under this ownership.
As long as we’re not ever seriously sucked into a relegation battle, he’ll not be getting sacked before his contract runs out.
Blinding Spaniard has been in charge for 7 months, 100 million plus net spend on new players , and we are worse than this time last season . The table doesn’t lie .
Does anyone honestly expect us to quality for Europe this season ??
No, we will be bobbing along lower mid table until may. A wasted season, our better players will want out. There is only one ‘man’ to blame for this . I think you know who that is.
It appears our manager has found a way to wrap Sullivan around his little finger Hes getting away with murder at W Ham
Not really , more likely Sullivan doesn’t want to admit he was wrong and doesn’t want to pay him off. So expect ‘one more game’ to pop up a few times til end of the season.
Totally agree on all accounts
With his pocket change , Kretinsky should buy out Sullivan and then at least Westham would be run professionally . Westham’s luck will run out and so will be happy with one point from Liverpool and Man City . Sadly that’s optimistic with Lopetegui coaching Westham and enough for him to keep his job .
That’s coming soon. No way kretinsky is letting steitden go .
JLo needs to go and here is the simple reason why. I watch our team play and literally have no idea what our tactics are. I dont see a team on the field they look worse than an elementary kids club playing for the first time!
To say Amorim is not doing well at MU therefore he would not have been a step up from Lopetegui at West Ham is to say that WHU and MU are identical clubs with identical problems, which is obviously not true. Making that kind of basic comparison about something so complex is absolute garbage and actually does make some people sound like idiots. Anyone who calls themselves a West Ham fan and says they are satisfied with our season and the new coach so far, has very limited expectations.
Listen that doesn’t mean loppy should not go , it’s not good enough scraping wins from other bad teams. The performance is poor , there is no identity or style of play
Do you really think if Amorim had spent nearly a 100 million on new players and had a preseason to work with these players that he wouldn’t know he’s strongest starting 11 or the right tactics to get the best out of he’s players. Loppy still hasn’t worked out he’s strongest starting 11 still hasn’t got a clue how to get the best out of this team. West Ham let opposing teams have shots at our goal at will. The worst team in the league had 16 shots at our goal with 5 on target we had 2 on target and thankfully one went in and West Ham won. West Ham have had the rub of the green that the last two teams have struggled to score. The next run of games if you allow the same amount of shots at our goal they will take advantage. Fab has kept us in these games with match saving profomances. West Ham stil have a clueless manager relaying on individual talent to get us through. No game plan , no organisation just a big dose of luck. But keep up the Sullivan propaganda your top source must be very pleased with you .
Amorin didn’t want to take the vacancy at MU until season end. He’s a training ground coach who requires multiple sessions to embed his playing methods. He reluctantly agreed to go mid season and has stated that his key objective is to survive being axed prematurely so he can get to a pre season scenario.
I’m of the opinion that if we’d gotten him at the beginning of the June we would be delighted with his methods by now.
Yeh true but look at the new wolves manager he’s won 2 out of 2 scoring 5 letting in 0 and the wolves fans singing his name already so it can be a success a new manager.
What a load of cobblers.
You take us Hammers fans for idiots.
We know when we see things are not going to work. We know our owner wants to save face and not upset his chum Salthouse because they both overruled everyone in appointing this great guy (I like JLo as a man very much) but a dated coach whose methods either are not being listened to, or they are out of date.
They are hoping for another Moyes stroke of luck, but this time it’s not going to happen.
Behind the scenes he is undermined by the owner, Salthouse, Brady and most likely Steidten, but I still want proof of the latter because that is more than likely more fiction from Sullivan.
To work he must at least be allowed to banish ANY player from the team if they show descent. He is the boss and no player has the right to have a tantrum and get their place back. Stuff it that we may have to put in a U21. This club lacks discipline from the top.
Most of all though, the leaks from ‘our top source in the club’ need to stop and all you gossip mongers need to stop printing your particular agenda against players you and Sullivan don’t like and he has buyers remorse because his chosen coach will not play them to their strengths.
Yes, I have been very guilty of slagging off players and I’m not proud of it at all. I’ve stopped because it only adds to the rubbish printed on here and all the other sites who just peddle utter twaddle for clicks.
You all have players you don’t like and you are determined to write as much cr*p about them so the gullible start repeating and believing your lack of knowledge on what a player can do if coached properly.
You may know a great deal about football, but you make a very good effort at not showing it.
Every time you stir up trouble it has to be questioned.
Again, we are the worst club in the EPL for toxic gossip sites and willing to peddle the owners rubbish.
The guy is shameful and his only priority is to himself. To spew out bile about his own players is why we will never be taken seriously and players know that they are not playing to take this club further.
Hence we get what Sullivan deserves, but we don’t.
Nailed it. Merry Christmas and thank you for my gifts 🎁
Yes the Amorim decision is looking like a good one at the moment…I wonder how long he will last at Man U?…
I agree with the comparisons..But lets be really honest…You cant ignore the chances missed by the last three opponents!…Can you?…If fifty percent of those go in we would be in a far worse position…But they didnt i hear you say!….Liverpool and Man City up next…If we get two points from those two games then JL can keep his job..Because that tells me they are fighting for him..At this stage of the season that will do.
I think it’s more important to hope for the departure of the chairman. And even then it is not a simple case of hope the new chairman have deep pockets as we only need to look at Everton for the warning signs….
We live in a time of instant results, knee jerk reactions, extreme opinions.
What we saw at Wolves with Gary O Neil and players having temper tantrums on the pitch was an example of players running the show, not the manager.
Under Lopotegui there has been a marginal improvement in performance, but you can definitely see a team improving, and working together.
It seems pointless to sack him for a ‘sexier’ signing. The old adage of giving the manager time applies here. Until the end of the season at least.
Thanks for this article. I have followed west ham since watching “that stooping header from Sir Trevor in 1980” as a 6 year old’ and while I would not describe the current season as anything close to a high, I have also seen much lower lows – Mr Alladyce will always be the lowest. I don’t want to reply with a whole article but I am already tired of the rhetoric that there has been no improvement or change in style from Moyes. A quick look at Futmob stats that our ranking this season has gone from 17th to 13th in average possession, 13th to 10th in xG and18th to 11th in touches in opposition box. And these stats include the first six or so games where lopotegi was trying to get a group who hadn’t defended outside the final 3rd for three years to play a high press. I’m not saying it has been good but I do think it has been different, and in my eyes, better. I may be a lonely voice, but I vote for time, and open conversation about how to carry on getting better!
Hi Rob, thanks for the comment: I hope you are right. we are all West Ham fans and whilst we see it differently we’d all be very happy with some genuine ‘Green shoots’. Reality check coming though between now and the end of January I fear.
I totally agree with you Rob. BFS Will always be the worst ever manager for me even worse than Grant.
And when I am in the stands at the LS I keep hearing the football is exactly the same as under Moyes which in my eyes is total bolo*** . Yes, the tactics are difficult to phantom, yes often the team selections are bizarre and his man management skills are far from good.
But we do have much better players and if they do get it right they will be a good team the football is far more on the front foot. The worse game I saw was against Everton 0.0. That was a Moyes performance. I think we have had a bit of luck in recent matches but it’s not our fault other teams can’t score. We had 31 shots against Leicester but nobody said we were unlucky, we weren’t it is the attacking teams onus to score. And teams like Man U and City have had luck over the years but we get the old chestnut of “you make your own luck” so why doesn’t that apply to us. I totally understand people want this guy shot of but amorin proves there are no guarantees……..
We’re doing fine. Arsenal and Brighton scored one goal between them last night, at home against Ipswich and Brentford respectively.
Btw – not defending anyone but severance payments for managers count for PSR so reduce the transfer and wages budget.
West Ham didn’t have Ten Hag which may speak for it’s self But I still believe Lopeteigui Cannot take us any further and the reason we are climbing is due to other teams being worse than they normally would For me it has to be Sergio NOT a Stiendten favourite but Man U manager was SO YET another MISTAKE he would have made
.. of course. nail Steidten and run. you NEVER talk football
Can’t judge Amorim at Man Utd yet, this is not his team.
Striker alone won’t make any difference, major surgery needed all over the place especially central midfield. Unfortunately, while the clown Sullivan runs this club we ain’t going nowhere. Lopsy is clueless and needs to go, but the Porn Baron will probably appoint Steve Cooper !
Shambolic from top to bottom 👎
I cannot understand why so many so called supporters do not stick behind their team when Liverpool go one down the supporters are all up for it whereas too many of us go home instead a sad state
Come on we have a good manager great players and a great stadium stick together and give total support
J lo needs to be sacked, sooner the better. Don’t need to say anything else. No style or system
how about we try a manager that will work with the director of football
My problem with Lopetegui is his odd selections and a lack of a pattern to see what he’s trying to achieve.
For example, why did he leave our best and most mobile midfielder Alvarez out against Southampton? We improved after he came on. Soler was limping so I expect that’s the only reason he didn’t change Rodriguez?
Why was Mavropanos preferred to Todibo against Southampton yet Kilman never gets changed until he had the injury….?
I think Alvarez is on his last yellow before another ban…He will be the better choice against Liverpool..Thats why Rodriguez was picked against saints…I dont why Todibo was on the bench..Personally although Mav has a mistake in him during games i would still have him in first alongside Todibo or Killman…Just my opinion.
Until we get a striker the team will struggle getting goals. As a consequence it would be a hard task for any manager to do better than Lopetegui
I’m relieved to see Martin offer a reasoned and rational perspective on something that has been a real hot button subject on this (And other) site/forum.
In football, there are no guarantees, and new coach/managers are no guarantee of future success.
But then the grass is always greener, eh?
Cheers Martin!
#AmorOUT ! 😂
The issue with Lopetegui is that I do not see any improvement. It appears to me that we pick up points more due to other teams failure to put away chances than anything else. Southampton had more attempts on goal than in any other game this season and I believe the same was true for Bournemouth yet they scored just one goal between them.
If we present Liverpool with the most opportunities they’ve had this season I dread to think what will happen.
I thought Amorim was considered prior to our current manager, not as a replacement for him?
Exactly Morty, no one was asking for Amorin to replace lopetegui as there was no way he’d come to us. Our chance to get him was in the summer where he could have brought in players and installed his way of playing.
Using his short time at Manchester as a stick to beat fans that wanted him is poor and only serves sullivan.
I’m not a huge fan of lopetegui, but the Job he took on was massive, the squad the daves left was old, slow and had been playing anti football for years.