Julen Lopetegui made Jarrod Bowen the captain of West Ham and with that will come a natural sense of loyalty.
But in trying to stand up for under pressure West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui, skipper Jarrod Bowen may have inadvertently done him no favours at all.
It has been another glum week in the world of West Ham.
A 3-0 Premier League defeat at Nottingham Forest quickly extinguished the hopes that the Hammers had turned a corner in that second half against Man United.
Instead, that fortunate win over the Red Devils, was put into context as being extremely lucky.
Because save for that, Lopetegui would be going into the Everton game off the back of three heavy defeats.
There is so much wrong with West Ham under the Spaniard that it’s probably easier to list the things that aren’t.
One of them is Bowen of course.
Although he too hasn’t been at his brilliant best consistently this season, Bowen is at least straining every last sinew for the Hammers as always.
The decision to make our Prague hero captain continues to divide opinion.
Especially after a defeat.
Bowen’s damning verdict on West Ham under Lopetegui
The world and its wife has been having their say on the issues at West Ham.
Whether it’s the tactics, team selections, Lopetegui tinkering with formations and line-ups, individual performances, indiscipline, a midfield with no pace, a lack of striker options or being far too open at the back.
The truth is it is a combination of all those things.
But claims of unrest among the players towards the manager have abound for several weeks.
Actions on the pitch and words off it from certain stars have done little to dispel that talk.
Bowen candidly admitted he addressed rumours of unrest in the dressing room after the lucky win over Man United.
Many called Bowen out for his silence in the immediate aftermath of the defeat at Forest.
By the time he did speak out, many fans were busy wallowing in the misery of being a Hammer right now.
As a result Bowen’s damning verdict on West Ham under Lopetegui went completely under the radar.
West Ham’s players were kept in the dressing room for a long time after the game.
Fans also noted the team did not get into a huddle before kick-off unlike their opponents.
That practice is now commonplace across football before every game. So when it doesn’t happen it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Bowen was honest and open enough to speak up on the Forest defeat.
Captain’s take on Hammers failings paints a grim picture
But while his comments were undoubtedly meant as a rallying cry, they merely paint a grim picture of the club as Lopetegui’s job hangs in the balance.
Bowen has questioned the team’s resilience, fight, desire and workrate since Lopetegui’s arrival.
And he says there is no hiding from the fact the Hammers are too easy to beat.
“It’s not good enough,” Bowen told Premier League Productions.
“And obviously, when you go down to 10 men, it makes it harder again.
“In the end we conceded two and it could have been more so it’s frustrating, for sure…
“But it was important then not to just give up. It was to just try and keep fighting as hard as we could, but ultimately we didn’t do that well enough.
“We need to scrub up for sure. Myself as an attacking player I play a part in that as well and I know that as well….
“We’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of defeats by a lot of goals, so we need to look at ourselves as players.
“I think that’s a given, but I think we’ve got to accept this feeling, accept it today, move on tomorrow and in the last game before the international break where we’re at home. We have to put it right and that’s it.”
If West Ham fail to do that against the Toffees, word is Lopetegui could be gone.
The stakes could not be higher but, by the sounds of it, morale could not be lower.
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