Julen Lopetegui will remain in the West Ham dugout for the FA Cup clash at Aston Villa despite fans calling for his head again.
West Ham and Julen Lopetegui head to Villa Park knowing their entire season is on the line.
Lose and the Hammers have nothing left to play for bar midtable mediocrity in the Premier League.
And make no mistake, most are expecting West Ham to lose.
After conceding nine goals in defeats to Liverpool and Man City, West Ham find themselves 14th in the table, closer to the bottom three than the top seven.
A dismal six wins from 20 Premier League games has left the Irons marooned in the Premier League’s no-man’s land.
Dumped out of the League Cup 5-1 by Liverpool, it’s been a season to forget for the Hammers.
But it’s been a season criminally wasted too.
This is the most wide open Premier League campaign for 12 years.
What Lopetegui was seen doing after West Ham loss
Yet after being deemed to have won the transfer window, West Ham are a club nobody is talking about and a faceless, spineless team going nowhere fast.
West Ham’s hardcore away following chanted for Lopetegui to be sacked as they fell 3-0 and 4-0 behind at the Etihad.
Not for the first time either.
‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ also rang out from the away end during West Ham’s defeat at Leicester.
Lopetegui was handed a reprieve on that occasion.
And the Spaniard has been handed another after defeats to Liverpool and Man City.
West Ham’s owners have sent a message to the manager ahead of Villa.
Supporters have been flooding social media demanding Lopetegui is shown the door.
Many want to see what a new manager can do with the side between now and the end of the season.
That way supporters and the board will have a better idea whether it is a managerial or playing squad issue.
They say when you lose the away fans then there’s no coming back.
What Lopetegui was seen doing after West Ham loss hints he knows sack is coming.
Actions of Hammers boss hints he knows sack is coming
A plethora of managers have been heavily linked with the Hammers hotseat.
Graham Potter has reportedly agreed to take over West Ham on an initial six-month deal if Lopetegui is sacked.
A top football correspondent named the elite manager David Sullivan wants to appoint in the summer.
Lopetegui will be well aware of the fan unrest about his position.
He acknowledges himself on an almost weekly basis that West Ham have simply not been good enough.
Following a club like West Ham is difficult – but especially away from home.
Let’s face it, bar a few brilliant seasons here and there, the Hammers’ away following do not get to see too many wins on the road down the years.
But after another pathetic collapse at Man City, the patience of those loyal supporters wore thin again.
They let the manager know. But they stayed until the end after a long and difficult away round-trip – despite the woeful defeat.
They did not receive much thanks from the manager for their efforts, though.
Presenter and West Ham fan Jamie Boyce highlighted what thousands of travelling Hammers supporters saw Lopetegui do at the Etihad.
He went straight down the tunnel on the full-time whistle, not even acknowledging the thousands who had followed the team up to Manchester.
“Julen Lopetegui walks straight into the tunnel at full time with no effort to walk over and clap the travelling West Ham fans,” Boyce said.
“His exit feels inevitable.”
Yes the supporters had been chanting for his sacking.
But regardless of that, Lopetegui should still have shown basic decency and respect by applauding the efforts of the away support after what his side served up.
It did not go down well with the travelling Hammers army.
One look at social media and fan forums makes that abundantly clear.
The manager should not only be going over to applaud – and apologise to – the fans, he should be making his players do the same.
Sadly on a select few showed they care enough to go over to the supporters.
It very much suggests that even the manager knows the sack is coming.
If Lopetegui is not bothered about trying to build good relations with the club’s most dedicated supporters then what is the point of persisting with this failed appointment?
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