West Ham earn vital three points vs Southampton in spite of truly jaw-dropping Julen Lopetegui decision

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West Ham United beat Southampton 1-0 in the Premier League on Boxing Day in spite of Julen Lopetegui, not because of him.

Julen Lopetegui oversaw West Ham‘s 1-0 win against Southampton in the Premier League today.

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However, the performance was far from convincing.

There were some truly awful performances on display from the Hammers players at St Mary’s, none more so than the truly shocking Guido Rodriguez.

The squad Lopetegui has at his disposal at the London Stadium is a very, very good one, and he simply hasn’t performed well enough in his job.

The 58-year-old hindered us rather than help us at St Mary’s on Boxing Day.

And one decision he made during the clash with the Saints seriously raised some eyebrows.

West Ham earn big win vs Southampton in spite of Julen Lopetegui

The Spaniard will now be in charge for the clash with Liverpool on Sunday.

He has been under huge pressure all season long really, but seems to pick up big results when it’s the last-chance saloon.

The performances against Wolves a couple of weeks ago and the one today against Southampton were extremely underwhelming.

It was an awful display on the most part this afternoon, especially inside the final third.

One decision from Lopetegui stood out to me, and it just proved that he is a man who’s really feeling the pressure.

At half-time the Hammers head coach brought Edson Alvarez on in place of Carlos Soler.

The Spaniard was the only one who offered us any kind of creativity or guile in the first-half, yet Lopetegui inexplicably hooked him for tactical reasons.

We then had an engine room three consisting of purely defensive midfielders – against the team rock bottom of the Premier League table.

Alvarez was actually decent when he came on but that’s beside the point. The Mexican should have replaced the hapless Rodriguez.

And Soler must be wondering what on earth happened earlier today.

West Ham beat Southampton in spite of Julen Lopetegui, rather than because of him. He’s not the man for the job, and he needs to be sacked, regardless of the 1-0 win against the Saints.