Dean Ashton and Danny Murphy say West Ham are ‘shambolic’ and there’s one man to blame. Danny Ings got Julen Lopetegui off the hook last week but there was no saving him from criticism after the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea.
The new Premier League season may only be five games in but Julen Lopetegui is already under pressure at West Ham.
Not only from the media and fans but the club’s owners too. The wider football press have been waiting to pounce on any early negativity surrounding West Ham’s new head coach.
That was inevitable given the scathing reaction to the Hammers’ decision to part ways with David Moyes for Lopetegui. Most West Ham fans appreciate Lopetegui has a difficult job on his hands.
Not only because he has to completely change West Ham’s style while ensuring they compete for the European spots. Media, fans and board unimpressed with West Ham. But he’s having to do that while knitting together a new-look team following a 21-player overhaul in the summer. With £155m spent and expectations high, though, time waits for no man. Some West Ham fans booed the team off in the drubbing to Chelsea and jeered Lopetegui’s substitutions too.
What will always catch the attention of owners, though, is fans walking out en masse with 20 minutes still to play.
As exclusively revealed by Hammers News today, West Ham’s board are far from impressed and have called for improvement. It’s easy to see why after a tactical disaster-class from Lopetegui against the Blues.
The defeat means Lopetegui has made some very unwelcome history at West Ham. It is the first time the Hammers have ever lost their first three home league games in 129 years.
In mitigation, the fixture list has not been kind. West Ham have faced Champions League Villa, champions Man City and top four challengers Chelsea at the London Stadium.
But as far as two leading pundits – and one former Hammer – are concerned, only one man is to blame. Dean Ashton and Danny Murphy say West Ham are ‘shambolic’ and it’s on Lopetegui.
Ashton and Murphy say Lopetegui’s West Ham are ‘shambolic’
“I tell you what, defensively, absolutely shambolic from West Ham,” Ashton said on talkSPORT.
“They are all over the shop. “Alvarez has got no shape in the middle of that defence.
“(Konstantinos) Mavropanos again out of position, (Max) Kilman can’t get across, he is not quick enough to get to Jackson.”
Murphy was particularly baffled by the Spaniard’s tactics, with Alvarez man-marking one of the quickest players on the pitch. It was a tactic which was brutally exposed for the opening two goals.
‘Really strange’
“He (Lopetegui) has to take some responsibility, the manager, for this, because he didn’t just change the system, go to three at the back or five at the back, it was the man-to-man marking of Nicolas Jackson,” Murphy said on BBC’s Match of the Day.
“Really strange. We don’t see it very often.
“You certainly don’t see it with a midfielder, Alvarez, he dropped it, you can see the back-five, the line. Alvarez drops in the back three.
“Now, he has many qualities, but pace isn’t one of them. This was evident non-stop in the first half – following him everywhere.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Lopetegui either. West Ham go to Anfield to face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
