Whether Lopetegui stays, or Lopetegui goes, I believe we have further investment to make, urgently, in the transfer window in January. Bear with me here, all of you shouting ‘we’ve already spent £140 million, there’s no money‘.
West Ham’s useless – at the moment – midfield quartet of Alvarez, Paqueta, Soler and Rodriguez are liabilities and the reason for our dreadful form. Radical surgery is needed to replace and recruit in midfield. Forget the ‘new striker’: If we don’t recruit fast, fit creative ball-carrying and defensive midfielders then the ball will never make it up to which ever striker we recruit.
It could be Jhon Duran at £50 million, if we don’t fix our midfield that would be £50 million wasted. He’ll be as isolated as Danny Ings has been and just as effective.
We will also continue to leak goals. No defence in the world is going to keep clean sheets if the midfield in front of them doesn’t tackle, intercept or pass successfully. Just take a look at Rodriguez’ stats for the Nottingham Forest game: Hooked at 45 minutes, yellow carded, zero tackles. Seven lost possessions. Three ‘duels’, none won. Zero key passes.
West Ham have built a midfield that can’t run, can’t tackle fairly, can’t win the ball and can’t create.
That is where the ‘radical surgery’ is needed first. Left wingers we have, right wingers we have – central midfield we have just the cardboard cutouts.
Cardboard Cutout Midfielder Modelled on West Ham
So. Money. It is sad but true that ‘Starboy’ Mohammed Kudus will be off next summer when his £85 million release clause becomes live again. If the rumours we hear this November are true, he may well be off to Arsenal, Liverpool, Saudi- wherever – in January.
Make no bones about it, I’ll be sad to see him leave but remember it is only six months earlier than expected and that money would fund the rebuild in January of a midfield, pay a new coach’s salary, pay -off Lopetegui, deal with PSR issues and leave a few quid for a £15 m striker too. You work it out.
