You’ll remember Claret and Hugh’s ‘senior source’ told us ‘Everton is a Must-Win Game’ after the debacle against Nottingham Forest. A complete contradiction to that stance appeared today from talkSPORT. Journalists and broadcasters need headlines. I understand this.
But when two such contradictory stances are taken up by different ‘sources’ then something is clearly amiss, either with the reporting or with the conflicting information coming out of West Ham United this week.
Today TalkSport host Jim White makes a counter claim (as reported by givemesport.com) that: “a source close to David Sullivan has told talkSPORT host Jim White – West Ham United’s game against Everton will reportedly not decide Julen Lopetegui’s fate at the London Stadium, even if they lose 5-0.”
Which says one of two things. Either Jim White’s source is mistaken or else West Ham United’s board is in complete chaos right now, backtracking like crazy in a frantic attempt to save face and – presumably – six million quid in severance pay to the outgoing head coach should our Hammers fail to beat lowly Everton and be plunged toward our own relegation – zone crisis.
The full quote is:
“We hope and expect to do well against Everton. If we were to lose 5-0 against them, he would still be the manager on Monday morning. We are people who honour contracts’
“The spokesman said to me, ‘We expect the manager to come good and we have to give him time’,
The thought of Lopetegui limping on even after a 5-0 thrashing by one of the worst clubs in the league is too awful to contemplate. That’d be too much for many supporters I suspect. Remember the poll conducted on associate editor Sean Whetstone’s twitter feed last weekend ? 85% had no confidence Lopetegui could turn it around – and that was before another potential loss.
Strong leadership this is not. “It’s a ‘must win game”: Oh – no it isn’t’ . OH – YES IT IS.
Pantomime performance from West Ham. “Honouring contracts” is more important than staying in the Premier League? I doubt it. Bilic got fired. Pellegrini got fired.
Just how bad will it have to get before this clueless football from a clueless coach is committed to the bin? Already 24 goals conceded in 12 games under Lopetegui. How would it feel with another five on Saturday?
Exactly.
