West Ham were one of the most active players in Europe during the past summer transfer window, as they legitimately did what they could to support new manager Julen Lopetegui with the pieces he needed to improve the Hammers from last season’s sputtering finish under David Moyes.
Though some felt Moyes should have been given more time on the grounds of his past accomplishments at West Ham, the writing was on the wall for the manager after several listless attacking displays to end the season.
Lopetegui, however, hasn’t materially improved West Ham to this point, as after eight matchdays, the Hammers sat in lowly 15th, tied on points with now perennial relegation fighters Everton.
Although it seems far too early to begin discussing canning the former Wolves, Sevilla, and Real Madrid coach, the rumor mill has been spinning with frequent reports regarding Lopetegui’s future outlook.
The latest comes from top insider Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports, who reports that while West Ham’s owners are backing Julen Lopetegui, they seem to be singing a different tune behind the scenes.
For example, Plettenberg writes that the upcoming three matches will be crucial for Lopetegui’s future before the November international fixtures, and he even adds that West Ham are evaluating potential replacements.
Now, West Ham should be evaluating managerial candidates regardless of how Lopetegui is doing, because that is simply due diligence on the part of a large footballing institution as theirs.
But it is hard to believe that Lopetegui is being backed very strongly when the club just fired a manager for similar, if not better, results, and if they are leaking to a top media member internationally that their coach is under close watch for the next three games.
West Ham face Manchester United on Sunday, and then they have another tough game against a Nottingham Forest team that is excellent defensively and beat league leaders Liverpool earlier this season (the Reds’ lone loss thus far).
After those two games, West Ham will have a must-win match against Everton, given their similar predicaments, and if the Hammers stumble badly enough, the wording of Plettenberg’s report makes a Lopetegui sack seem plausible.
Although I was never a fan of the Lopetegui appointment to begin with due to a poor resume wherein his only successful season was a 2021/22 campaign with Sevilla that he immediately undid a year later, all this sack talk in October is very presumptive.
Lopetegui is a flawed manager who relied on an ultra defensive style in a defensive league in La Liga and then failed to impress at Wolves, but he’s not inherently a bad manager.
And as much as West Ham made moves this summer, not all those moves were wise ones, such as the needless expenditure on aging striker Niclas Fullkrug. Plus, when you make so many moves, it takes that much longer for everyone to gel under a new coach.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.