The door is open now, for the full motives of some of Julen Lopetegui’s indecipherable decisions and constant chopping and changing of key players to become public.
Much becomes clear about the state of the dressing room when seemingly calm, popular international players were inexplicably dropped amidst ‘injury’ claims: Jean Clair Todibo was the player we knew had been left on the ‘naughty step’ after a bust up- with J’Lo and indeed, didn’t even travel with the squad to one away fixture, being forced to train with the academy team under the pretext of one of Lopetegui’s “little injuries”.
The same fate befell former first choice goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. Whilst Lopetegui explained these player absences as ‘little knocks’ it is clearly the case that players were undermined or even banished following fallings-out with the Spaniard.
I found it head-scratchingly difficult to understand when Areola was absent with a ‘bad back’ yet travelled to be the third choice French keeper in the international break.
Roshane Thomas in the The Athletic promised to ‘reveal all’ after Lopetegui’s exit- and has now started:
“Lopetegui [even – MT] clashed with goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. The France international was frustrated at losing his place — he was dropped against Man United having started every previous league match, then not in the matchday squad for the ensuing games against Nottingham Forest and Everton. Lopetegui explained his absence was due to a minor knock, but their relationship was fractious, according to people close to the players. Areola is a popular member of the squad and is a very calm person off the field.”
Areola was Hammers’ number one under Moyes
Whilst Fabianski’s form was extraordinary for a 39 year old, Areola had been in brilliant form under Moyes and his decline was hard to fathom. All becomes clear now as Lopetegui gradually fell out with even some of the most implacable components of the West Ham side.
Of course, the upside is that this is a simple fix. Potter’s style will suit Areola perfectly, being the better ‘keeper with the ball at his feet: I’d hasten a guess he’ll be back to his best in no time.
The wave of relief which will be spreading through those who’d been sidelined by Lopegeui will be almost tangible – so new coach Graham Potter gets the chance to capitalise on this simply by uniting the whole squad, with the result of better team spirit and a more solid group with selection based on merit for the Aston Villa game.
Whist the Potter-era tactics will take months and months to show results, the effect on player confidence and morale could be pretty immediate.
Dear oh dear. Didn’t take long.
Not sure either keepers going to be used to the way Potter likes his keepers to play which is playing out from the back no matter what.
Areola is ‘ the better ‘keeper with the ball at his feet’ – are you having a laugh. He’s very good at kicking it straight out to the opposition. In fact he’s so good you have to wonder if he’s got a bet on the other team winning. His other faults are being rooted to the spot, and not communicating with his defenders. He is a shocking keeper. Never rated him, never will. For me he’s the one position where we do need another option. #AREOLA_OUT
Hopefully, very soon, Potter will sort some better protection for our keepers. First Moyes, then Lopsy managed to make our ‘keeper the most overworked player on the pitch owing to no closing diwn, backing off etc hence shots faced / goals conceded.
In good teams, the keeper is the most underworked player in the team.
I’m sure this is one of the first things Graham will address and I expect to see a big improvement in this area sooner rather than later.
Alphonse Areola is not drastically better than Fabianski. They are both good keepers that can be swapped easily without noticing much of a difference. If Potter does not like Fabianski, he should let him go and have a final contract in his career with a team that values him. After all the years of faithful service, he deserves some respect.
Yep a good manager to change the attitude, but please let’s give him time to make an impact, next season will be much better.
Nothing new or surprising in that revelation. Perhaps the bleeding hearts that were so full of compassion for Lopetegui over the last 6 months, and especially the last few days, might have a more balanced view as more truth comes to light.
There’s been reports in the news aggregators for the last two days saying that a group of players went to Noble to raise concerns about Lopetegui. I raised it yesterday but nobody wanted to know, yet here we have another story about dressing room unrest…
Let’s move on ,I wish Potter and the team luck . Let’s hope everyone gets behind Potter including the players . Let’s get that team spirit and hard work back . Come on lads let’s see what you can do . Potter great manager . COYI ⚒⚒⚒