West Ham have become even worse since Julen Lopetegui left and it seems he may not have been to blame for the club’s biggest problem as first suspected.
Following the pathetic 3-2 collapse at Brighton last week, Graham Potter snapped after just four months in charge of West Ham.
Potter said it is now time to start blaming West Ham’s players.
That is because the malaise in east London is nothing new, stretching back to January 2024, since when West Ham have won just 13 of their 54 Premier League matches under three managers.
Blame has been levelled at each from David Moyes to Julen Lopetegui and now Potter.
The Hammers board has also been justifiably hammered for their part in the mess that has unfolded too.
Lopetegui bust-ups set tone for dismal West Ham season
After all they are the ones who make all the big decisions.
This season has been a wasted one for West Ham but it could have been disastrous.
Most of the blame for the dismal campaign has been laid at the feet of Lopetegui and former technical director Tim Steidten.
Lopetegui has been criticised for his approach to managing the group.
Now manager of Qatar, Lopetegui had a furious bust-up with Mohammed Kudus at Brentford. Word of the row leaked – something that would never have happened under Moyes.
And that should have been the first warning sign something was not right in a much-changed Hammers changing room.
Players such as Edson Alvarez were seen showing public dissent towards Lopetegui when substituted.
Then came another huge bust-up in the dressing room, this time between the 58-year-old and Jean-Clair Todibo.
It is alleged the defender had to be pulled off the manager after the row became physical.
Todibo was made to train with the kids and dropped from the squad for one game – Leicester away.
It has since emerged that a leadership group of five players agreed with the manager’s punishment.
There were reports that five West Ham stars were planning a mutiny around Christmas time, demanding Lopetegui be sacked or they would leave.
Lopetegui wasn’t the problem after all as poisonous West Ham dressing room laid bare
But Michail Antonio’s car crash saw such trivial, selfish behaviour given little credence by anyone connected with West Ham.
Just one leading West Ham player – Jarrod Bowen – sent a farewell message to Lopetegui when he was sacked. That’s despite the manager putting the Hammers first when his father was dying the month before.
It came out after Lopetegui was eventually sacked that the players did not take kindly to the Spaniard’s taskmaster approach with few days off.
That was one of the first things Potter, described as a ‘weak’ manager by Simon Jordan last week, changed when he arrived.
Players have been given more days for ‘family time’ which apparently went down well.
But it hasn’t helped improve performances or results.
Or what is a toxic dressing room by all accounts.
Roy Keane recently suggested he heard West Ham were a ‘tough group to manage’.
Then outspoken pundit Jordan said he believed Potter has no control over a ‘bad dressing room’.
That came in the wake of Niclas Fullkrug labelling the team “s—” and suggesting half the players don’t listen to the manager.
Now it seems Lopetegui wasn’t the problem after all as the poisonous West Ham dressing room is laid bare.
West Ham reporter Roshane Thomas has revealed that the regular bust-ups which occurred under Lopetegui have continued under Potter – and then some.
Thomas has revealed on The Athletic that ‘tension has also been brewing since Potter succeeded Lopetegui’.
West Ham fight club as Potter struggles to lift toxic morale
According to his sources, who he says wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, there have been regular fights between West Ham’s players since Potter’s arrival.
The sources claim the dressing room is ‘tempestuous’.
What a sorry picture this paints of the Hammers squad less than two years after team spirit reached new highs as West Ham ended a 43-year trophy drought in Prague.
How the Hammers have gone from that comradery and togetherness to fighting with different managers and one another must be solved if this club is to be fixed.
Cynics would suggest the players start showing some fight on the pitch rather than in the dressing room.
Thomas states that Potter is struggling to lift morale.
These shocking revelations explain why the manager finally laid the blame at the feet of the players after Brighton.
But based on these claims, the only way to fix the problem is to start weeding out the problem players in a major rebuild this summer.
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