David Moyes lifts lid on shocking West Ham dressing room bust-up and it says everything. Dressing room bust-ups are a hot topic at West Ham right now because Julen Lopetegui has had plenty of them.
Unrest in the Hammers camp has arguably been Julen Lopetegui’s single biggest issue since arriving at the London Stadium. It has been one worrying story of West Ham rows and fall outs after another, particularly of late.
In fact it’s reportedly so bad behind the scenes, West Ham’s owners have ordered Lopetegui to build bridges with disgruntled stars or pay the price. .Warning signs were there very early on into the 58-year-old’s tenure.
New signing Niclas Fullkrug warned Lopetegui he hadn’t signed to be sub less than one week into the season after starting on the bench against Villa.
There have been several public displays of dissent towards the manager from the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta, Edson Alvarez, Guido Rodriguez and others.
There was the bust up with Kudus at Brentford and even a dust-up with Jean-Clair Todibo – which was confirmed by Lopetegui but brushed off as ‘nothing important’. Lopetegui dogged by constant tales of West Ham unrest. Kudus showed dissent towards Lopetegui after being subbed in West Ham’s win over Wolves which kept the Spaniard in a job.
The manager’s failure to command respect or foster a camaraderie and team spirit has stood out alarmingly.
Because it has been in stark contrast to the relatively serene four-and-a-half years under his predecessor David Moyes.
The Scot ran a very tight ship in the Hammers dressing room. Such headlines were nowhere to be seen at West Ham under Moyes.
The Scot’s high standards in terms of professionalism, attitude, approach and workrate were the things that made the Hammers so competitive for much of his time here.
Said Benrahma was the only player who showed public dissent towards Moyes when being subbed. And it never happened again.
They say things go on every day in training and the changing room at clubs across the country.
And as you might suspect that was the case even under Lopetegui’s predecessor.
Now Moyes has lifted the lid on a shocking West Ham dressing room bust-up and it says everything.
Moyes lifts lid on shocking West Ham dressing room bust-up. Speaking to The Athletic about Michail Antonio’s horrific car crash, Moyes recounted a huge row he had with the striker in front of the rest of the dressing room.
“I remember me and him had a stand-up (altercation) once in the dressing room,” Moyes said. “Because I didn’t think he was doing enough.
“Then, two minutes later, we’re hugging each other. Thankfully, I was often able to get him to respond well to criticism.”
This proves things went on under Moyes, just like they have under Lopetegui. Indeed some managers may even use it as a tactic to fire their players up and get the most out of them.
But the big difference is that under Moyes there were no damaging leaks from the inner sanctum.
Contrast in leaks says everything about lack of Lopetegui respect. Proof of that comes in the fact this is the first any of us are hearing about it his blazing row with Antonio.
With Lopetegui, new leaks are popping up every day. So the ship is sinking before it’s even had a chance to set sail.
You rarely, if ever, heard anything about bust-ups at West Ham under Moyes. Team spirit became central to everything good about the club under the Scot.
Moyes’ Antonio row story proves he clashed with players just like Lopetegui.
But it speaks volumes about the lack of respect the Spaniard seems to command that highly-detailed accounts of these incidents are being leaked under Lopetegui.
The motivation for that is clearly to put more pressure on the manager as speculation continues to swirl his job is on the line. We know that because several top Hammers stars are demanding to leave if Lopetegui isn’t sacked.
It’s clear incidents like the ones Lopetegui has been involved in do happen at other clubs – and even at West Ham under other managers.
But the fact it’s making it into the public domain is as damning as it is damaging.
