West Ham United take on Newcastle United in the Premier League at St James’ Park on Monday night.
Julen Lopetegui is a man under real pressure at West Ham right now, and a loss away at Newcastle followed by another defeat to Arsenal next weekend could see him lose his job.
The Hammers head coach needs to get a tune out of his players now – he cannot afford to oversee another tepid performance.
The players have been nowhere near good enough this season, but Lopetegui has to take most of the blame.
The buck stops with the manager and he has failed to inspire his team this season.
Could things turn around at Newcastle though? Lopetegui may well be ready to make a big change it seems.
Lopetegui drops hint that West Ham star could return vs Newcastle
The Hammers need a big performance against the Toon on Monday night.
The main thing is that we need to see some real change.
And Lopetegui has hinted that he could be ready to bring one Hammer back in from the cold.
The Spaniard addressed the media on Friday and offered huge words of praise for Alphonse Areola, as quoted by WHUFC.com.
Lopetegui said, “There’s a lot of competition in the squad, which is good. We have more than one good goalkeeper, and I make the decision about who to play based on what I think is right for that match. It depends on what I’ve seen in training or how I feel. Łukasz [Fabiański] worked really hard and got his chance, but let’s see now. Alphonse [Areola] is fit again, so we have to pick from very strong options.“
“We’re very happy with Alphonse. He’s working well, but let’s see what’s going to happen.”
Lopetegui made the correct call in dropping Areola after our 4-1 defeat to Tottenham back in October.
Areola hasn’t been seen in the starting XI since, with Lukasz Fabianski having won back the number one goalkeeping jersey.
The Frenchman has been in really poor form for the Hammers this season.
However, if he’s showing positive signs in training, then it proves that he’s ready to win his place back.
Competition between players is always a healthy thing.
And it will be interesting to see whether or not Alphonse Areola returns to the West Ham starting lineup for our clash with Newcastle on Monday night.
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