West Ham United sacked Julen Lopetegui last week on Wednesday, and replaced him with Graham Potter.
Julen Lopetegui really struggled during his doomed six-month tenure at the London Stadium, and he paid for West Ham‘s poor run of results in the end.
Graham Potter is now at the helm, and the Hammers fans are already a lot more excited than we were with Lopetegui in charge.
The general consensus is that the West Ham owners should have sacked Lopetegui a lot sooner than they eventually did.
The Spaniard’s camp questioned the commitment of the players after he had been sacked, but it’s little wonder why they may have downed tools.
Lopetegui fell out with Mohammed Kudus, Jean-Clair-Todibo and Alphonse Areola amongst others.
The dressing room at the London Stadium with Lopetegui in charge was far from a harmonious one.
And now, one player in particular will be absolutely buzzing to see the back of the 58-year-old.
One West Ham player will be buzzing Julen Lopetegui was sacked
Lopetegui seriously underwhelmed in his role as Hammers head coach.
He failed from day one, with both his bland approach to tactics and press conferences.
Lopetegui was far from a competent man-manager either.
His lack of personal skills shone through loud and clear concerning his relationship with French centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo.
The Hammers managed to hijack Juventus’s move to sign the 24-year-old in the summer, after Tim Steidten flew his jet over to France as the Turin giants closed in on the centre-back.
However, it has since been claimed that Todibo was in fact ‘forced’ to join West Ham.
That’s never a good sign is it.
And the former Nice defender’s performances for us this season, in general, lend credence to the claim that he didn’t actually want to join us in the first place.
Was his underwhelming start to life at the London Stadium mostly down to Lopetegui though? There is an argument to be had that that has indeed been the case.
Perhaps Todibo will flourish now under Potter’s guidance.
Jean-Clair Todibo to shine after Lopetegui exit
The Frenchman has the chance of a fresh start now.
His future at the London Stadium looked very bleak indeed with Lopetegui at the helm.
Let’s face it, he hasn’t been great for us this season has he? However, Todibo’s ability and potential is undeniable.
Potter has been known to play three centre-backs fairly regularly during his time in football management.
When Jean-Clair Todibo is back fit, I fully expect him to play a key role for West Ham under Graham Potter.
There is definitely a top-class defender in there somewhere, what with the Frenchman’s impressive pace, ability on the ball and strength in the air, and Potter’s task will be to extract the very best out of him.
Todibo would have been rubbing his hands together when it was announced that Julen Lopetegui had left West Ham.
Now the onus is very much on him to prove that he’s good enough to play in the Premier League for the Hammers.
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