Julen Lopetegui has a serious amount of work to do if he is to get his West Ham United team firing.
West Ham appointed Julen Lopetegui as the new head coach at the London Stadium officially on July 1st.
However, Lopetegui has made a slow start to life in charge of the Hammers, and he has already made a sincere apology to the West Ham fans about the state of our performances so far.
Lopetegui has made some baffling decisions so far, including his refusal to start Jean-Clair Todibo in the Premier League, opting for the hapless Konstantinos Mavropanos instead.
Things need to change, and fast. However, our problems seem to be pretty deep-rooted right now.
During the first five Premier League games, the Hammers players have shown no discernible playing style.
And Lopetegui’s tactics have defied belief at times, especially during our shambolic 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.
Pressure on West Ham chief Julen Lopetegui intensifies
The Spaniard is facing fierce criticism after his first two months in charge at the London Stadium.
In spite of the ‘be careful what you wish for’ merchants screaming from the rooftops, ‘I TOLD YOU SO’, the 58-year-old undoubtedly needs time to implement his ideas and footballing philosophy.
That said, that doesn’t mean he’s immune from criticism. It’s fair to point out his mistakes when there have been so many obvious ones during his Hammers tenure.
However, more worrying than anything else so far this season was the space afforded to the Chelsea midfielders on Saturday.
Leaving the engine room so wide open was a shocking error from the former Wolves boss – one that backfired badly, and I can’t really see the point of deploying the tactic in the first place!
The below photo has highlighted just how open we were in the middle of the park against the Blues.
What was Lopetegui thinking?
The Spaniard’s tactic of moving Edson Alvarez back into the centre-back position was a bizarre one to say the least.
It was a kamikaze move, as it gifted the Chelsea players the keys to the London Stadium midfield.
Lopetegui has to get his tactics spot on now – no more silly experiments please Julen!
If he wants his side to play a possession-based system, he needs to bring Jean-Clair Todibo and Carlos Soler into the team as a matter of urgency.
He also needs to get Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus operating really close to Niclas Fullkrug, if he is to get the best out of the German.
Positive change never happens overnight, and real progress always takes time.
However, we need to see some positives from West Ham and Julen Lopetegui very soon.
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