Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has leapt to the defence of his under-fire friend Julen Lopetegui following West Ham’ 3-0 humbling by Chelsea earlier today. The former Revista La Liga host, good friends with his fellow Spaniard, took to social media to urge patience while Lopetegui settles into the Hammers job.
However, there was also a cryptic sentence within the post which hinted at an unexplained reason for Lopetegui’s poor start to the season.
Writing on X, Balague said: “It is the perfect time to say this, now that the wind (and the pusillanimous who can’t see further than their nose) is going against him. Julen Lopetegui is a top manager and will show it at West Ham. Message to those that understand football: look beyond the bench to understand the poor start to the season.”
“You don’t get chosen as a Spain national coach AND Real Madrid manager, and win the Europa League unless you are absolutely top. He did an absolutely superb job at Wolves (and then the ownership lied to him three times so he couldn’t stay as trust was gone).”
“Bookmark this message for me, please. No replies allowed because I don’t really care what those that cannot see it think.”
Hinting at hidden problems?
Quite what “look beyond the bench to understand the poor start to the season” is supposed to mean is something of a mystery and one I think will take some unravelling. But it does seem to indicate that there is a reasoning for the Spaniard’s stuttering start to his Hammers job which doesn’t involve the players.
Irrespective of the secret squirrel stuff, it’s clear that Balague is stung by the criticism of his friend and has launched a robust defence (ironically unlike the team itself). The journalist is clearly confident that Lopetegui will turn things around at West Ham… let’s hope he’s correct.
Balague does have a history of backing Lopetegui publicly, most famously with his hotel room interview as things began to turn sour at Wolverhampton Wanderers a little over a year ago.
The fact is that Enzo Maresca worked under Lopetegui in Spain so he would have known the complete Lopetegui playbook and certainly knew how to exploit it.
We were useless. Beaten by the cat out of red dwarf and Lopeteguis tactics.
Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s having Todibo playing time restricted by the hierarchy in the club. May be down to his short transfer trigger point. No clue why they would do it but his playing time doesn’t add up in the circumstances. He’s been class before he came to us, we’re leaking goals through the middle and he wasn’t even brought on yesterday. Crazier things have happened would certainly be link to the bench statement.