It has been another testing week for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham and now he will be left sweating by a journalist’s new claim.
There is never a dull moment at West Ham and Julen Lopetegui has found that our very quickly indeed.
The Spaniard has struggled to get a tune out of his expensively assembled Hammers squad.
Fans have been underwhelmed by what they’ve seen so far.
It’s no wonder with just two wins from eight Premier League games and a 5-1 hiding in the cup at Liverpool to show so far.
Those are not even the most concerning elements of Lopetegui’s tenure, though.
The Spaniard appears to failing to command the respect of the club’s star players.
That has been evident in some of the dismal capitulations so far.
Fans would expect to see players putting in extra effort to impress a new boss – but that’s not been the case.
Lopetegui left sweating by journalist’s West Ham unrest claim
Edson Alvarez and Lucas Paqueta have both been seen shaking their head at the manager when being substituted.
Lopetegui had a bust-up with his best player Mohammed Kudus at Brentford.
Kudus had to be restrained when singled out for criticism and was subbed at half-time. He was then seen kicking a chair when taking his place on the bench for the second half.
Kudus, who has been played out of position on the left all season, has cut an increasingly frustrated figure.
And that boiled over for the world to see with his moment of madness in the 4-1 humbling at Spurs which is likely to result in a six-game ban.
Lopetegui urged West Ham’s owners to judge him in May following the Tottenham defeat.
Less than 24 hours later news emerged from a source close to Tim Steidten that West Ham have put his compatriot Edin Terzic on standby to take over.
At the same time the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ emerged from sources close to David Sullivan.
Now Lopetegui will be left sweating as a journalist makes a West Ham unrest claim.
‘Some of the Hammers hierarchy and players unconvinced’
A journalist revealed last month the Spaniard was very much a Sullivan appointment.
While it was made clear the rest of the Hammers board and Tim Steidten signed off on Lopetegui too, Sullivan effectively pulled rank to bring him in.
Now Alex Crook has doubled down on that claim.
Crook told talkSPORT’s Premier League All Access podcast that concerns of those in the boardroom who did not want Lopetegui in the first place are ‘going to get louder’.
Worse still he says doubts in the boardroom are shared in the dressing room.
“I’m told the players aren’t necessarily convinced by him,” Crook said.
“I think there’s been one or two issues, hasn’t there.
“There were some members of the hierarchy who weren’t entirely sure about the appointment in the first place, so the more results that go against them, their concerns are going to get louder.”
Crook also added that while his sources inside the club ‘played down the Kudus and Lopetegui bust-up at Brentford a bit’ – the manner he lost it at Spurs ‘is not a good look’.
With a rejuvenated Man United up next things don’t get much easier.
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the West Ham dressing room and boardroom if Lopetegui does not start turning things around.
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