The more perspective I have on yesterdays West Ham v Arsenal mismatch, the worse the Hammers team’s preparation and performance looks. I’ve even watched the game again to try and focus on exactly what to pinpoint as the West Ham weaknesses. I needn’t have bothered: Danny Murphy was spot on when speaking on last night’s Match of the Day:
“..But I was really shocked how easy West Ham made it for them by basically not doing the fundamentals right.
“The real basics of football they struggled with -“Communication, basics, not winning second balls, the drop down balls – all the normal things”.
“These are the fundamentals, winning duels, closing down space, tracking runs, being competitive against a good side. Now Arsenal did play well but some of those goals aren’t difficult to stop. Concentration, preparation for West Ham non-existent compared to Monday night against Newcastle.”
All of the ‘basic components’ that a good coaching team would work hard to put in place as a foundation. All West Ham need then, is a new defensive coach, a new set-piece coach to work out how to defend against corners and a new conditioning coach to get fitness levels where the Hammers can run every week as they did against Newcastle instead of tailing off at sixty minutes.
Oh and a new head coach, too, since the buck stops at Lopetegui’s door. Nothing will change in one, two, three, ten or twenty games. Sullivan can give as many ‘last chance’ games as he likes but the trend will be dour, depressing and mostly defeated. As Danny Murphy put it, the fundamentals of ‘concentration and preparation’ will not magically appear one day soon however much pressure is put on this coach. He doesn’t have it in him.
And rather like the emperor’s new clothes, everybody can now see the naked truth: Everyone it seems except the in-denial West Ham Chairman and board.
The longer Sullivan waits, the more disheartened the team and the supporters will be – and the deeper will be the descent into the Premier League mire.
Danny Murphy was spot on with his assessment, yes we are disjointed, no cohesion whatsoever, basic errors and a lack of effort. The manager says the same thing week in week out and nothing improves and it never will with Jlo in charge. Someone mentioned apathy rather than anger and he is dead right,however the board do nothing when it is plain that changes are needed, I doubt anything will change.
Agree why waste time on giving him more time, Sullivan needs to be a man and own up to making the wrong appointment as manager. He needs to replace him before the weekend , there are two or three managers out there right for us. So Sullivan be a man and replace the manager now. But we all know he will keep quiet and do nothing.
We have one of the worse defensive record in the premiership outside the bottom 3 conceding 24 goals after conceding 74 goals last season! After spending £140 million on supposedly better players we are still conceding ridiculous goals, can’t defend set plays and not even doing the basics right. Can anyone genuinely see us competing for a European position which as Bowen said should be a minimum aim every season? For the manager to claim we were “unlucky” and didn’t deserve to concede 5 goals yesterday what bloody planet does he live on?
Totally bored of hearing the same excuses and clichés every week. For God’s sake sack him now before it is too late.
Guys, it is not a matter of wanting this manager to succeed. That is what you feel when someone is trying tried and trusted methods, made logical tactical decisions, has formed a bond with the players at his disposal and gives a damn about you. None of that is the case here. It has become obvious from the antics, the explanations, the reactions and most of all the results, that this person does not know what to do or how to do it, to make things better. He is not the coach that West Ham United, the fans, the players or the backroom staff deserve. He has had his shot and failed, but made a sizeable chunk of change in the process, so stop feeling sorry for him. It is time he left and the club sit down and decide where to go from here, whether it be an interim appointment or full time. That is what is required now. After that, whoever takes over needs to find out why the team were apparently incapable of getting back to basics and damage limitation as opposed to folding and total surrender.
It is obvious that Lopetegui will need to be sacked sooner or later. When it’s that obvious why the hell is it not sooner ? He’d have been gone after Everton if I was loading the gun.
I understand that a lump sum payoff is not needed, the terms being week by week until re-employed.
There are half decent managers available without paying compensation if not paying compo is a be all and end all.
Finishing two positions higher come the end of the season pays off Lopetegui in full even if he didn’t find employment.
It’s as plain as day to me that appointing Lopetegui was a mistake and that things are not going to improve. It seems insane to be going from must win game to must wing game when it’s as easy as just have Lady Brady get on with it.
The big worry now is so many like me are leaning towards apathy rather than anger – the pre match garbage with letting of 4 fire works, mucking about with the stove, turning the lights on & off, that idiot pre match bigging everything up and the roped in crap ex player for his pre match assessment always advising what a tough start we have had, bedding new players in, adapting our new playing style then always predicting a win – embarrassing totally EMBARRRASING – now its a just a shrug of the shoulders and dismissed as same old same old. At 4 – 0 there was no anger from anyone sat near me or within earshot and more shrugs – and a few resigned “shall we go for a beer now”. People will vote with their feet and Sully must hope the gaps v can be made up with plastics and tourists
Complete madness, Sully did the same with Pellegrini until it was nearly too late then had to eat humble pie and get Moyes back in to save us. Loppy is completely out of his depth and totally clueless. His comments after every battering are the same “ Work harder in training, do better next time” crap – what do they do in training – play Darts, Snooker, Badminton ? Doesn’t seem much work goes on football !
As you say, Martin, the manager is either good enough or he isn’t – and he isn’t so the board need to act now. Sorry, Sullivan, you might have to pay compensation and do what’’s best for the club so we can get a manager who knows what he’s doing and get a feel good factor around the club, rather than employing another out of work clown. At the moment, the club is an embarrassing mess and a laughing stock.
Needs to be sorted, NOW !!!
Totally agree Kenny. Word for word.
not sure where our fans expect us to be considering we have played all our games minus a striker,Kudus and Alvarez with discipline problems and the oldest team /squad in the premiership.surprised we got the 3 points which probably saved his job but its the next 4 we have that are make or break for the team and the manager surely.
Professionalism, that’s all. Look and sound like you are worth £6m and have the knowledge and ability to affect positive changes, however small. This manager is way past “make or break”. 6 months, 13 PL games and 1 good result.
The team cannot match the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal so before wanting the manager sacked, let us all see how the next five games go.
Spoken like a Wolves supporter.
What player would want to stay with a club coached by an idiot . The longer LOSEpetegui stays the more players will become disheartened and leave Westham . For F..ks sake sack him right now .