West Ham lost 3-1 to Wolves out in Jacksonville, Florida last night, and Julen Lopetegui has plenty of big decisions to make as a result. The West Ham head coach was visibly frustrated with what he was watching from the sidelines last night, and rightly so.
Julen Lopetegui spoke to reporters after the match and insisted that each and every one of his players have so much work to do over the next three weeks if they’re to be ready for the new season.
I know it was a pre-season friendly, and all that matters is getting minutes into the players’ legs. Also, I remember how good we were during the 2010/11 pre-season, and that campaign ended in relegation!
In spite of that, it was still concerning to see the majority of the West Ham players so far off the pace last night in comparison to Wolves.
It was a lethargic all-round performance, and it looked to me like a lot of players on display last night won’t be here beyond the end of the 2024/25 season. Some of them will probably be gone before the start of the new campaign.
Every single player has been given a clean slate, with a real opportunity to impress Lopetegui during pre-season, and some of them have quite clearly failed to do so.One of them in particular has spectacularly wasted his chance, and it could well lead to his exit from the club.
West Ham player so bad vs Wolves, Julen Lopetegui must sell him
Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of poor performers at the EverBank Stadium last night.
It was a sluggish display all-round from the boys aside from a couple of players, namely Mohammed Kudus and Freddie Potts. However, some players stunk out the place in Jacksonville – one man in particular.
Maxwel Cornet put in an utterly awful display for West Ham against Wolves – one that could see him sold this summer. He was heavily linked with an exit from the Hammers in January, but he remained at the London Stadium in the end.
Now could be the time that Cornet is moved on though. He didn’t look too bad in our pre-season opener against Ferencvaros out in Austria a couple of weeks ago.
However, during our last two games against Dagenham and Redbridge and Wolves respectively, the 27-year-old has been utterly awful. Last night, his display against the Black Country outfit took the biscuit though – he was dreadful in every sense.
Cornet stood out for me as the worst player on the pitch for West Ham against Wolves last night as far as I’m concerned. Sure, he was poor in the final third with absolutely no output, but it was his all-round game that concerned me most.
There was no tracking back on display, he was incredibly lightweight in the challenge, and he offered absolutely no outlet for his defenders. Cornet was clearly a decent player during his time with Lyon and Burnley, but the injury he suffered at the end of 2022 has obviously wreaked havoc with him, both physically and mentally.
It’s time for Julen Lopetegui to cut ties with the West Ham winger after his poor performance against Wolves out in Jacksonville in my opinion.
The Spaniard needs to be ruthless now, and moving on Cornet would send a big message to the rest of his underperforming squad.
