West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui caused a stir today by taking Mohammed Kudus off at half-time during our 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Mohammed Kudus wasn’t great for West Ham against the Bees, but Julen Lopetegui still raised some eyebrows by taking him off, and replacing him with Carlos Soler.
Lopetegui proved that he was actually happy with the point by taking Jarrod Bowen off late in the game and replacing him with the defensive minded Andy Irving.
But it was the Kudus substitution at half-time that drew the most attention.
The 24-year-old hasn’t been at his scintillating best this season, there’s no denying that.
He doesn’t get his head up enough and find his teammates for my liking, holding onto the ball for far too long instead.
That said, his dribbling ability and strength provides us with something that we don’t otherwise possess.
When he’s not playing, we miss him desperately.
And that’s what made Lopetegui’s half-time call so hard to understand.
What Julen Lopetegui told reporter about Mohammed Kudus
Lopetegui was forced to answer a whole host of challenging questions once again this afternoon.
Without context, a draw away at Brentford is actually a solid result.
However, the Hammers really needed a win today, and in my opinion, we really should have got it after some of the moments we created in the second-half.
Lopetegui’s decision to take Kudus off after 45 minutes sent shockwaves around the away end – it was a big and bold move from the West Ham head coach.
But what was his thinking behind making such a bold decision?
The former Ajax man is such an important player for us, and despite his less than impressive first-half display, the Brentford players would surely have breathed a collective sigh of relief when he didn’t emerge for the second-half.
Athletic journalist Roshane Thomas shared the real reason why Lopetegui took Kudus off at half-time during our 1-1 draw with Brentford:
“Lopetegui says he brought off Kudus at HT for tactical reasons.“
That’s very interesting isn’t it, and I have to say, I don’t agree with Lopetegui’s reasoning one little bit.
Mohammed Kudus a game-changer for West Ham
Now, I get that we were trailing at half-time and ended up drawing the match, but Kudus is someone who should always be on the pitch in my opinion, due to his match winning ability.
Lopetegui said he took the Ghanaian off for tactical reasons, but it is the Spaniard who keeps starting him out wide on the left wing – his worst position.
Kudus is best either on the right or in the number 10 position. He obviously won’t start in Jarrod Bowen’s position, so needs to play in the attacking central midfield role.
Why Lopetegui hasn’t grasped this yet really is anyone’s guess – it’s utterly bizarre to say the least.
The fact of the matter is that if West Ham are to achieve success this season, we need Mohammed Kudus firing on all cylinders, and Julen Lopetegui just isn’t providing him with the best chance to be on top form right now.
Hopefully that will change over the coming weeks.
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