West Ham United decided to part ways with Julen Lopetegui this time last month.
Rightly so – Julen Lopetegui seriously underperformed in his role as West Ham head coach.
Numerous Hammers players have already highlighted how much more intense the training sessions are at Rush Green with Graham Potter now at the helm, and how the squad have all bought into it.
Lopetegui arrived at the London Stadium on July 1st last year with a big reputation. However, he never lived up to the high expectations of him.
The Spaniard made nine new signings in the summer.
However, he was unable to get the best out of most of them.
Lopetegui’s failure to get the best out of Lucas Paqueta was one of the main contributing factors behind his struggles at West Ham.
That said, it’s easy to pile in on someone who has just been sacked from their job.
Lopetegui obviously didn’t sabotage our season on purpose, and he did have some redeeming qualities.
One Julen Lopetegui decision left West Ham staff shocked
Lopetegui has received plenty of criticism from the West Ham fans, both during his time in charge of the club and since his exit.
All of that criticism has been fair in my eyes.
However, sometimes when a manager performs so badly in general, the good things they do go unnoticed.
And that is certainly true regarding Lopetegui’s time at the London Stadium.
According to The Daily Mail writer Ian Ladyman, Lopetegui actually surprised staff at the London Stadium by the lengths he went to buy into the club’s traditions and history…
“Graham Potter’s start to life as a West Ham manager has been decent enough to suggest the club have made the right appointment, even if there is still some regret within that things didn’t turn out better for his predecessor Julen Lopetegui.“
“West Ham sources tell me Lopetegui tried to buy into the traditions and history of the club in a way that surprised them, even becoming the first manager in memory to turn up without being asked for an annual dinner hosted by the club’s charity arm.“
“On the pitch, sadly, things were less joined-up with some players complaining they were often drilled in a certain way of playing during the week, only to turn up on match day morning to discover that plans had changed.“
Fair play to Lopetegui for that.
It’s clear to see that he did his best to buy into the club’s traditions and history off the pitch.
However, it’s a huge shame that the same can’t be said with his actions on the pitch.
Lopetegui got it wrong from day one at West Ham
The main problem Lopetegui had in my opinion was that he was just too similar to David Moyes.
He accentuated this issue by sticking with the same 11 players that let us down so badly during the second half of last season.
Lopetegui took far too long to integrate four new signings in particular – Niclas Fullkrug, Crysencio Summerville, Carlos Soler and Jean-Clair Todibo.
Rather than capitalise on the feel-good factor of the summer window, and take advantage of all of his new signings flying high on confidence, he fell into the trap of ‘easing’ them all into action.
That archaic tactic never works. Throw the players in just after they’ve made big money moves and are flying on thin air!
It wasn’t just that though. The football implemented by Julen Lopetegui at West Ham was dire to watch.
There was a clear breakdown in communication between him and the players, and that led to a complete lack of cohesion in our performances as a team.
The decision to move him on was the correct one.
I do feel like he tried his best but sometimes that’s just not good enough.
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