Julen Lopetegui has been brutally honest in his assessment of West Ham’s morale-boosting 2-1 win over Manchester United.
What a difference a win makes for West Ham, especially against Manchester United.
The pressure was on Julen Lopetegui and Erik ten Hag going into what was dubbed ‘El Sackico’.
So it was always going to turn up the heat on the loser of Sunday’s Premier League clash at the London Stadium.
Thankfully for Lopetegui’s sake, it was West Ham who got it.
The Hammers put in another woeful first half performance, though.
Manchester United could have put the game out of sight, missing a host of gilt-edged chances.
West Ham somehow survived, though.
Lopetegui was brave at half-time making three substitutions by bringing off Lucas Paqueta, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Carlos Soler.
All three had been poor.
Paqueta continued his awful form of 2024 and looks like a man with his mind very much elsewhere.
Soler – on loan at West Ham from PSG where he earns a staggering £240k per week – will clearly need more time to adapt.
Brutally honest Lopetegui explains why he hooked West Ham trio
But on this evidence the Spaniard looks far too lightweight to make an impact in midfield in the Premier League.
Mavropanos was caught out on a number of occasions and – as well as Max Kilman – was fortunate not to cost the Hammers a goal as Man United wasted four big chances.
Lopetegui’s substitutions changed the game.
Particularly goalscorer Crysencio Summerville.
But he also made a huge call pre-match by dropping Alphonse Areola for old hand Lukasz Fabianski.
Now brutally honest Lopetegui has explained why he hooked West Ham trio and has singled out a quartet for praise after the Man United win.
West Ham’s head coach said he was wary of the fact Paqueta and Mavropanos were on yellow cards.
But he felt Paqueta, Soler and Mavropanos were costing the Hammers by losing their individual battles on the pitch.
Lopetegui also said they were not aggressive enough and so he decided to haul all three off at the break.
The Spaniard then singled out subs Jean-Clair Todibo, Tomas Soucek and Summerville for praise. And there was also a word for veteran ‘keeper Fabianski too.
Hammers boss singles out quartet for praise after Man United win
“Obviously, there were some good moments from our goalkeeper, from the defenders and some luck, but 0-0 at half-time, it was a good way to move on,” Lopetegui admitted when speaking on West Ham’s website.
“I was thinking that maybe we could change a few different things. We had two players with a yellow card. We needed to win more individual fights.
“We needed to be more aggressive with our ball. We needed to be more dangerous in attack. So, that’s why we were thinking about Crysencio in the second half and we put on Tomas and JC (Todibo) too.
“They did well, but it’s about all the team, so we are happy for them. The mental approach of the players, taking the ball, taking the game to United.”
Fair play to Lopetegui for saying it as it is.
Those three players will surely all be benched for Forest next week now.
Summerville has to start and Soucek’s contribution was invaluable.
Todibo looked a class apart when he came on, showing Man United what they’re missing out on after they were blocked from signing him by UEFA in the summer.
Credit where it is due to Lopetegui too.
The manager got it wrong first half but – with a large slice of luck – got in level at the break and was not afraid to make big changes.
Now he has to show the courage of his convictions to make them from the start when the Hammers go to Forest looking for their first back-to-back wins of the year.
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