Journalist Henry Winter has raised the question if West Ham would want David Moyes back should Julen Lopetegui receive the sack after a disappointing start to his time in East London. 

Some West Ham fans thought the 2-1 win over Manchester United was a turning point for Julen Lopetegui, however, that hard work was all undone after a shocking defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon. The Hammers were on the end of a humiliating 3-0 defeat at the City Ground, which has piled all the pressure back on the Spaniard.

A lot of fans, most notably on social media, have been frustrated by the former Sevilla manager during his short stint as Hammers boss. He often makes the wrong choices with his starting lineups, for example, fan were fuming after his decision to leave Summerville on the bench against Manchester United, despite Mohammed Kudus’ suspension and Lucas Paqueta’s lack of form.

The manager brought Summerville on at the break, and the game completely changed in West Ham’s favour. He did start Summerville against Forest, however he got the attacking formation completely wrong. He played a back 5 with a front three so naturally the front players were very narrow and inverted. This doesn’t suit Summerville’s style of play, the Dutchman likes to start out wide and move centrally, not start in the central areas. So, he really struggled to get into the game. Jarrod Bowen failed to make an impact in a central position, while Paqueta also failed to shine out on the right.

Speaking live via talkSPORT on Sunday (3 November), Henry Winter could see where Hammers fans were coming from,  and he raised a huge question: “I don’t want to mention your old mate, David Moyes, but would you have him back?”

Shaun Custis replied: “I don’t think you can go back down that road for the third time. He’s got to be under pressure, hasn’t he? And you can’t get rid of him in November, though the international break is coming up.”

Winter ended by saying: “Absolutely. And that’s dangerous. They’ve got some good players, who are not performing. Ultimately, you have to look at the manager.”

A David Moyes return would be very very unlikely considering the terms he left the club on in the summer. While almost every single West Ham fan loved David Moyes for everything he did with the club, including the Conference League victory, the fan base was very split on the Scotsman towards the end of his tenure. While he shared his love for the fans, the stadium, and the club, there is no doubt he was hurt by the criticism, with many pundits questioning some of the hierarchy’s decisions.

West Ham’s hierarchy are also likely to be too proud to go back to David Moyes for a third time, it must’ve been difficult for David Sullivan to make the decision to go back to the Scotsman the first time after the Manuel Pellegrini experiment failed, and this situation would be almost identical. However, this probably won’t be a problem now Tim Steidten is involved.

Steidten and the Hammers are a lot more likely to go with a more younger and/or progressive coach, like they did with Lopetegui. The current favourite for the job is former Borussia Dortmund manager and West Ham coach Edin Terzic. The German spent just over two years at Upton Park/London Stadium as Slaven Bilic’s assistant.

The 42-year-old is right at the start of his managerial career, but he has already managed to get an average Borussia Dortmund side to a Champions League final, where they were desperately unlucky to lose to Real Madrid. He has also got a lot of output from Niclas Fullkrug previously, so it could be what he needs to kickstart his goal scoring form in claret and blue.