Former Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and Celtic striker Chris Sutton believes West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui is under “major pressure” and he “does not know what West Ham are” after the club’s poor start to the season.
West Ham are currently 14th in the Premier League with just 11 points from their opening 10 matches, a very underwhelming start after spending over £100m over the summer on a lot of exciting players. Sporting Director Tim Steidten’s decision to trust Julen Lopetegui with the rebuild looks to have been a mistake, and the Spaniard could soon pay the price for a bad start.
“West Ham this season are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, you don’t know what they are and that’s the issue, it looks like he’s a little bit stuck. He’s in the wrong movie.
“He needs time, but you don’t really know what they are and he’s spent a fortune,” Sutton told the Monday Night Club on BBC Radio 5 Live.
The Hammers have tried to switch from a defensively solid, combative and counterattacking system to a more open, and expansive possession based system very quickly and it hasn’t gone to plan at all for the former Sevilla manager. The team is visibly not prepared to be this open, while the defenders have all been good individually at time, the defensive unit which includes the midfield has been completely exposed. The centre of the park has been found out due to its lack of mobility and defensive security which leaves the back four exposed, and therefore we have conceded a lot of goals, especially against the stronger teams.
New York Times football journalist Rory Smith said West Ham fans would be more understanding of West Ham’s poor results if the club were playing a more exciting brand of football under Lopetegui. He said: “They can tell they’ve got a worse version of what they had before, with all the bits they didn’t like about Moyes,” Smith added.
