New dressing room leaks for Man United suggest all is not well inside West Ham. West Ham take on Man United in a crunch Premier League clash this Sunday but the visitors have been given a helping hand.
The Hammers and Red Devils face off in what many have dubbed the Premier League’s ‘El Sackico’. Pressure is mounting on West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui and his Manchester United counterpart Erik ten Hag.
Especially after Man United made it no wins from three Europa League games last night, leaving them 21st in the 36-team table. If you ever want proof that all is not well inside a football club, just look at the leaks coming out of it.
The sanctity of the dressing room and training ground should be sacred. Man United have been as leaky as they come in terms of news coming out of the club.
For the most part under David Moyes there was none of that at West Ham. Moyes was fiercely protective over team news even in press conferences.
New West Ham dressing room leaks for Man United. There was rarely any scandal emerging from leaks at the club or anything which might benefit the opposition in any way.
The last week has been a new low for the Hammers in recent times. West Ham go into the game with Man United off the back of a terrible 4-1 defeat at Spurs. The team’s best player, Mohammed Kudus, had complete head loss as he was sent off.
His actions, which mean he misses the Manchester United clash and probably the next five games thereafter too, have been seen as a public display of frustration with the manager. Kudus and Lopetegui had a bust-up at half-time in the dressing room at Brentford.
That was the first sign something wasn’t right at West Ham. Because news of the altercation and the specifics around it leaked out almost immediately.
Unprecedented leaks suggest all is not well inside West Ham. A top club insider this week suggested technical director Tim Steidten was behind a leak to a German journalist that their countryman Edin Terzic has been put on standby to replace Lopetegui.
Now team news leaks on a trio for Man United suggest all is not well inside West Ham.
You have to cast your mind back a long way to remember the last time news was getting out of West Ham’s training ground in the lead up to a game.
But that’s exactly what has happened this week.
Give Me Sport has claimed its sources at the club have revealed Edson Alvarez is set to be recalled to the West Ham starting XI against Man United.
The report says ‘Lopetegui is running out of faith with certain players’.
It’s claimed Tomas Soucek or Guido Rodriguez will make way. The report also states that the manager has not been impressed with the form of number one goalkeeper Alphonse Areola or Lucas Paqueta.
And it is claimed both could be dropped when Manchester United visit the London Stadium.
This is genuinely unprecedented at West Ham in recent years.Once leaks start they can be hard to stop Not only does it give Man United a leg up in knowing who they will face.
But it screams of problems in that dressing room.
Alex Crook claimed this week that there is unrest in the Hammers boardroom and dressing room regarding the manager.
Perhaps he is right. Because someone is clearly leaking news to reporters and ultimately it just serves to damage West Ham. The significance of this may be lost on some fans.
But once the leaks start at a club they become hard to plug.
It is the kind of issue that was common at the bad old West Ham before the club sorted itself out post lockdown. No wonder the Hammers have been labelled the Premier League’s circus yet again.
