West Ham have let it be known that Julen Lopetegui is safe from the sack for now after the demoralising 5-0 defeat to Liverpool.
Today West Ham responded to renewed calls from fans for Julen Lopetegui to be sacked.
The Hammers brought the curtain down on a terrible 2024 with the hammering at home to the Reds.
West Ham have managed just 11 Premier League wins in the calendar year.
The theme of the year has been pitiful collapses with the 5-0 drubbing to Liverpool the eighth time West Ham have shipped more than three goals in a game in the first half of this season alone.
It has not been lost on observers that a four-game unbeaten run prior to the Liverpool defeat was extremely fortunate.
The Hammers could not have complained had they lost to Wolves, Bournemouth, Brighton and Southampton.
But they somehow managed eight points from those games.
Twist as Crook shares major West Ham update
Many West Ham fans feel the club’s owners have merely been delaying the inevitable by refusing to sack Lopetegui.
Especially with a daunting run of fixtures on the horizon starting at Man City next.
A top club spokesman told Hammers News after the defeat to Liverpool that ‘there is huge pressure for an improvement in West Ham’s results and performances’.
And the club says it is hoping for better in 2025.
Those sentiments have been echoed in updates elsewhere too.
Now there’s been a twist as Alex Crook’s major West Ham update means Lopetegui is surely the close to the sack.
talkSPORT journalist Crook is known to have strong contacts at the London Stadium.
He has shared an update claiming Hammers majority owner David Sullivan remains reluctant to sack Lopetegui.
Lopetegui sack surely close after Crook’s two-game claim
But in a brand new take, Crook claims Lopetegui has now been given two games to save his job.
West Ham fans have heard that before of course.
Previously, though, those ultimatums have come when West Ham are facing teams they are fully expected to beat.
The difference this time is that those two fixtures are both away from home at two top sides in Manchester City next weekend and Aston Villa in the FA Cup the weekend after.
If Crook’s information is accurate, it can now surely mean only one thing.
Lopetegui is now genuinely on the verge of losing his job.
If West Ham perform anything like they have done for the most part under the Spaniard, both Man City and Villa will make light work of the Hammers.
Defeats in both games will leave West Ham facing a season of midtable mediocrity in the Premier League as they will be out of the FA Cup, more than 10 points off the European spots and having already dropped out of the League Cup.
Hard to see anything but two more Hammers defeats
West Ham have already lost to both City and Villa at home this season, 3-1 and 2-1 respectively.
The Hammers have won only seven of Lopetegui’s 21 games in charge so far.
There is added frustration around the club given the fact this is the most wide open Premier League season for 12 years.
That means the points needed to qualify for Europe – with England on course to receive at least one extra Champions League spot – will be lower than usual.
Many Hammers supporters feel a change of manager now could breathe new life into West Ham’s season.
And if West Ham can better their first half of the season by three more wins then Europe could still be an outside bet.
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