Julen Lopetegui has noticed a very serious problem at West Ham – ‘We have to change this’. West Ham United put in yet another poor pre-season performance in the early hours of this morning, this time against Crystal Palace.
The Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was the venue for the West Ham vs Crystal Palace pre-season clash, and the Eagles were by far the better team, somewhat worryingly.
Oliver Glasner’s men looked fitter, more up for it, and had clear patters of play that the players were able to execute. The scoreline remained 1-1 until Palace took control after the 60 minute mark and ran out as eventual 3-1 winners.
Julen Lopetegui has only been in charge for six weeks or so, so I don’t expect the players to be in sync with one another just yet, when it comes to executing the Spaniard’s game-plan and footballing philosophy.
West Ham were equally as bad against Palace as they were against Wolves last weekend, and Lopetegui admitted then that he let the players know how much more hard work they needed to do to get up to shape. However, there were no improvements on display at The Raymond James Stadium against our London rivals unfortunately.
Sure, there are still two weeks remaining until the Premier League season begins, so there’s no need to panic just yet.
However, I still like the fact that Lopetegui is calling out what he’s seeing, and he certainly didn’t hold back in his criticism of his players last night.
Julen Lopetegui has noticed a big problem at West Ham
West Ham now have just one pre-season game remaining – against Celta Vigo next weekend – before the 2024/25 Premier League campaign begins.
A lot of big improvements are required, if we are to hit the ground running, that’s for sure.I am willing to give Lopetegui plenty of time – everything he has done and said this summer has impressed me.
And his comments after the defeat to Palace prove to me that he will not settle for anything less than 100% commitment and application from his players.
Lopetegui spoke to WHUFC.com after the 3-1 defeat to Palace out in America, and he clearly wasn’t happy one little bit. The Hammers head coach said, “Of course, we have to improve on a lot of things and I think maybe more or less the same as the Wolves game, until 60 minutes we have been balanced in the match.”
“After, we have to analyse and ensure we are able to do better, to defend better and don’t concede easy goals. I think we have to change this,“ Lopetegui continued.
He’s bang on the money as well. The West Ham players completely dropped off after the 60 minute mark against Wolves as well, when they scored two goals in the final half an hour to beat us 3-1.
The fitness of the players is definitely a concern, considering we’re more than a month into the pre-season campaign now.
Let’s hope that Julen Lopetegui manages to address the issue he’s spotted during pre-season before West Ham’s Premier League campaign begins.
The only consolation for the Hammers is that this team is a completely different animal with Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Edson Alvarez, Alphonse Areloa, Crysencio Summerville and the whole host of new signings who are thought to be on their way to the club.
