Julen Lopetegui was always going to find himself under pressure from the start at West Ham but there is a clear agenda post David Moyes.
There has been no red carpet treatment for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham after replacing David Moyes.
It is fair to say a large section of West Ham fans were unconvinced when it became clear Lopetegui was the man chosen to succeed Moyes.
Opinion seems to have been coloured by scathing assessment of the Lopetegui appointment in the wider football press.
Lopetegui’s fellow Spaniard, journalist Guillem Balague, was pretty much a lone voice trying to justify the new West Ham head coach’s credentials over the summer.
Balague was exasperated at some of the cynicism and criticism surrounding Lopetegui’s appointment by West Ham.
Moyes has many friends in the media and West Ham’s decision to part company with the Scot was greeted with almost universal condemnation.
The ‘careful what you wish for’ brigade were out in full force over the summer.
The Sun makes embarrassing West Ham gaffe
There have already been signs in the press that knives are sharpened for Lopetegui the moment things get sticky.
After a defeat in the US in pre-season The Sun reported that fans were calling to ‘bring back Moyes’ based on a couple of comments on social meida.
Just three Premier League games in, Paul Merson claimed Lopetegui is already under pressure to get a tune out of his new-look Hammers team.
Most West Ham fans realise they are very much a work in progress with a new boss, staff, philosophy, style and turnover of 21 players in the summer.
There have been some questions raised over Lopetegui’s team selection so far.
There is no hiding that fact, particularly when the teamsheets came out for Fulham on Saturday.
And there would have been more discontent had West Ham not salvaged a point thanks to a last gasp goal from Danny Ings.
But The Sun’s embarrassing West Ham gaffe exposes the agenda against Lopetegui.
Tone exposes agenda against Julen Lopetegui
In what we can only assume was their desperation to be first with a sensationalist take on West Ham’s clash with Fulham, The Sun published its match report a touch too soon it seems.
The Sun stated West Ham had lost the game. Not only that it also sprinkled in the threat of the relegation zone – FOUR games into the season.
The report went out on X with the headline: “Jimenez winner puts Fulham on brink of top four as West Ham near relegation zone.”
That’s despite the picture being of Ings celebrating the equaliser.
Everyone makes mistakes of course. And regardless of The Sun’s reputation or fan opinion on the outlet, their sports coverage is pretty comprehensive.
But the interesting thing about the post is the clear agenda that’s there for Lopetegui.
Bringing up the relegation zone after four games – two of which have been against Villa and Man City?
It seems they were tripping over themselves to pump out the negative news and narrative on the Hammers.
Hammers fans must not play into the negative narrative
That’s their prerogative of course but if you do that you need to make sure it’s all present and correct.
Which this clearly wasn’t.
There was a time when newspapers and the likes of Match of the Day didn’t even show the league table until 10 games into the season. It was seen as pointless until that stage.
But to talk about being ‘near the relegation zone’ after four games is nothing short of pathetic.
So it deserves to be highlighted for what it is.
West Ham fans need to be mindful of this in the weeks and months ahead and do their best not to play into the narrative the football press are desperate to peddle.
Because the ‘careful what you wish for’ brigade will be back with ‘we told you so’ quicker than you can say David Moyes.
