From warning signs exhibited yesterday during the second half of West Ham’s bore dry with Everton, head coach Lopetegui is in danger of losing the dressing room – losing the respect of his team and his own credibility. There had been murmurings ever since the falling-out out between the coach and Mohammed Kudus: Further signs were present yesterday that all is not good.
Aaron Wan Bissaka has been simply sensational since his arrival from Manchester United: as a right back he has been a shoe-in and a huge upgrade on Vlad Coufal. Why he was hooked yesterday for Coufal is beyond me: Perhaps he wasn’t getting forward enough or being creative or becoming a wing-back enough: But the look of disgust on his face and the conversation he had with Todibo before incredulously trudging off left little room for doubt over his opinion of Lopetegui’s decision.
West Ham signed a wonderful right back but Lopetegui seems to be trying to make him something else altogether.
The decisions to take off club leading goal scorer Antonio received a similarly incredulous response from the Hammers number 9 – by all means add Ings but to remove a goal threat in a must-win game?
I’m not alone in this, both from the comments made by readers and respected journalists alike-lookers are not convinced that Lopetegui is carrying the dressing room with these off the top of the head changes.
Sun Journo Jack Rosser sums up what many Hammers fans are feeling:” What is Lopetegui’s plan? Does it exist? Is anyone listening? Few answers were offered on a glum afternoon in east London.”
Is anyone listening? Increasingly, it seems, the players are losing their respect for the head coach – which is a very slippery slope and only likely to get more pronounced in the bigger challenges posed by Newcastle and Arsenal who wait on the other side of the international break.
