West Ham United beat Ipswich Town 4-1 today, but that doesn’t mean Julen Lopetegui didn’t get anything wrong.
Julen Lopetegui was an extremely busy man in the summer transfer window, bringing nine new players to West Ham.
However, he has made a really slow start to life in charge of West Ham, with poor performances and results leading to huge criticism of him.
There has even been talk of the Spaniard getting the sack if results don’t improve quickly, but he has apparently assured the board that he will turn things around.
Today’s 4-1 win over Ipswich Town at the London Stadium was evidence that the Hammers may well have finally turned the corner.
It was a really impressive performance on the whole from West Ham, in spite of a tricky 15 minute spell inside the first-half.
Lopetegui got most of his calls spot on, both before and during the game.
However, the Spaniard wasn’t perfect and made one very questionable call indeed.
Despite 4-1 West Ham win, Julen Lopetegui made unacceptable call
At the end of the day, the win was the most important thing today.
However, that doesn’t mean that Lopetegui is immune from criticism.
The 58-year-old Hammers head coach played Mohammed Kudus out wide on the left wing yet again.
It is a tactic that hasn’t worked at all so far this season, so why on earth he persisted with it today is anyone’s guess.
Honestly, what other reasons can he have for starting Kudus out wide on the left wing?
I know that he scored, but in general, his performance really was bang average.
Kudus needs to be used correctly
When he’s out wide on the left, he can’t cut back inside, so he quite often ends up down a blind alley with nowhere to go.
The Ghana international has repeatedly insisted that his best position is in the number 10 role.
If Lopetegui doesn’t want to play him there, he must use him out wide on the right, whilst moving Jarrod Bowen into the centre-forward position.
The problem I have with Mohammed Kudus being played out wide on the left is that West Ham have one of the best attacking players in Europe, and Julen Lopetegui is wasting him.
The Ghana international is a player who could easily rack up 15 goals and 10 assists during the season as a bare minimum.
He has so much more to give, but it kind of feels like he’s being shackled by the manager right now.
Hopefully Lopetegui moves Kudus into the middle soon because if he doesn’t, I think we could end up losing him.
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