Julen Lopetegui reaction to Edson Alvarez speaks volumes as picture emerges from West Ham drubbing

That’s under both David Moyes and Julen Lopetegui.

And it says a lot about where Alvarez is at right now and he is nowhere near what West Ham thought they’d got in those initial months following his £34m arrival from Ajax.

It would be interesting to hear that Mexican reporter ask Lopetegui for his thoughts on Alvarez now.

Slow, immobile and a complete liability, Alvarez has been awful for the Hammers in 2024. Many have.

But West Ham have gone from Declan Rice to Alvarez. It’s chalk and cheese.

The midfielder is a yellow and red card magnet for a reason.

He is so painfully unathletic and lacks any power in his running.

So Alvarez is constantly left in positions where he feels he needs to make desperate last ditch lunges.

Lopetegui reaction to Alvarez speaks volumes

He was brainlessly sent off at Liverpool to leave his side to get battered 5-1 in the cup.

Alvarez did the same again at Nottingham Forest.

Lopetegui’s reaction to Alvarez speaks volumes as a picture emerges from the West Ham drubbing.

Including Alvarez, West Ham had seven players back as Forest attacked towards the end of the first half with the score at 1-0.

Forest had just two players forward – including the man he needlessly fouled, Anthony Elanga.

In fact the Hammers had an eight on two situation if you include Lukasz Fabianski.

You would expect an experienced Mexico international to know better than to recklessly lunge in on a player who, even if he were hopping on one leg, would likely be quicker than him.

Alvarez has been caught out time and again this season.

West Ham went on to lose 3-0 in the second half. But it says a lot that their performance actually marginally improved in the second half without him.

Lopetegui has spoken about Alvarez’s red. It’s just the usual banal cliches you expect to hear.

But it was his actions that said everything.

As Alvarez made his way off the City Ground pitch he was forced to walk almost shoulder to shoulder next to the Hammers head coach.

Stern-faced Lopetegui looked at him briefly but completely blanked Alvarez as he wore an embarrassed expression.

For those who were not at the game, they say a picture paints a thousand words.

And these say it all to be honest. It’s safe to say there’s no love lost.

Lopetegui blanked West Ham midfielder after red card

The fact Alvarez had absolutely no need to make the challenge, knowing full well he was already on a booking, was not lost on Lopetegui after the game.

Here’s what West Ham’s head coach said on the red card afterwards.

Note he does not mention Alvarez by name. But he makes it clear – somewhat justifiably – that he is seething with the midfielder.

Lopetegui essentially blames Alvarez for denying the Hammers any chance of getting back in the match.

“We can and we have to do much better,” Lopetegui told the club’s in-house media team.

“You can prepare the team but the players have to take the right decisions and we have to play with 11 men.

“It’s one of the situations we can avoid because there was no danger of this. We had a lot of players in our box. It is a big advantage for the opponent above all because there is a lot of time in front of you.

“You are losing the match so it was a bad moment for us and a very good moment for them because they wanted to damage us on the counter-attack. That’s why in the second half we tried to wait a moment. We were not able to because we suffered the second goal and it was different.

“That’s why I repeat that today is a hard night for us.”

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