Kevin Nolan has totally contradicted damning comments from Julen Lopetegui painting out Mohammed Kudus to be a West Ham ‘bad boy’.
It’s become perfectly clear that West Ham’s star player Mohammed Kudus and head coach Julen Lopetegui aren’t the best of friends.
The Hammers pair had a much-publicised bust-up in the dressing room at half-time against Brentford.
Lopetegui is said to have accused Kudus of not playing for the team.
Kudus reportedly took exception to be singled out for criticism by Lopetegui and an altercation took place.
West Ham’s under pressure head coach raised eyebrows by substituting the Ghanaian at half-time.
Nolan contradicts damning Lopetegui on ‘bad boy’ Kudus
Kudus was then seen kicking a seat in the dugout as he came out for the second half of the 1-1 draw.
The flare-up was strange as Kudus had been one of West Ham’s better players in the first half.
That’s despite being played out of position on the left once again by his manager.
It was reported the issue was put behind Kudus and Lopetegui. And he duly scored as West Ham won 4-1 against Ipswich in the next match.
Against Spurs, though, West Ham’s £38.5m signing from Ajax had complete head loss.
He left three Tottenham players on the deck and was sent off.
Kudus is banned for three games but that will likely become six after he was charged by the FA over a separate shove in the face incident after the red card offence.
Lopetegui says West Ham star Kudus ‘must improve behaviour’
It has been suggested the moment of madness was a public display of frustration from West Ham’s best player to the manager.
The subject of Kudus’ sending off and ban was the first thing Lopetegui was asked in his pre-Man United press conference.
And the Spaniard didn’t beat around the bush, laying into Kudus, saying his behaviour must improve.
“Unfortunately Kudus is going to be out for three matches because his behaviour was not good and he knows that,” Lopetegui said, as reported on West Ham’s official website.
“It’s a pity because he did a good match and could have scored two goals. He knows he has to improve his temperament because this can’t happen. I am sure this will be the last time it happens. The only way to handle frustration is to focus on the match because these kind of behaviours ruin the match.
“I talked with him and sometimes you don’t have to talk a lot about this kind of situation because he knows it was a mistake. I say for sure that he will learn about this incident and his behaviour will be better in the future.”
Nolan says Lopetegui has got placid Kudus all wrong
But Kevin Nolan has totally contradicted those damning Lopetegui comments on West Ham ‘bad boy’ Kudus.
Former West Ham assistant coach Nolan worked with Kudus last year.
Lopetegui insists Kudus’ behaviour must improve and paints him out to be something of a loose cannon.
Nolan says he is anything but, describing Kudus as ‘the most placid lad in the world’.
And Nolan – who recently revealed he was snubbed by Lopetegui after offering to stay on the West Ham staff in the summer – believes Kudus was likely showing his frustration towards the manager.
“We worked with Momo,” Nolan said on talkSPORT on Friday.
“He is the most placid lad in the world, so I don’t know what happened.
“It looks like obviously there’s a lot of frustration coming from his (inaudible), and I think that just probably came out in that moment.
“Sometimes when you see red, you don’t know, so I couldn’t believe what I was seeing because knowing Momo and working with him, it was just totally out of character.”
Nolan was also critical of Lopetegui for making Jarrod Bowen West Ham’s captain recently.
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