“On Thin Ice” West Ham Gaffer Running Out of Excuses

Following the Hammers’ 4-1 derby loss to Tottenham yesterday, pressure is rising on West Ham head coach Julien Lopetegui.

Nobody anticipated the Spaniard to encounter this kind of strain at such an early stage in his West Ham career. But as he approaches his fifth month in command at The London Stadium, Lopetegui is no longer the new kid on the block, and his options for justifications are starting to run out.

In my opinion, it would be unfair to evaluate the former Real Madrid manager before November; therefore, I was slow to pass judgement on him when he was still a young player with the Hammers. Regretfully, as supporters, we would have preferred to be witnessing some indications of progress by now, but we are almost there.

Of course, there was a brief uplift following the Premier League win against Ipswich Town, but the team seems to be no further along than they were in the opening day defeat to Aston Villa.

Lopetegui’s stellar away record was the one fact he could afford to brag about, but the loss in North London yesterday has now nullified that record.

Max Kilman’s comment that West Ham was improving but had “lost concentration” is no longer a valid justification. Given that the Irons’ goalie had a full two weeks to rehearse the Hammers’ defence, the Hammers should be too far along in the Lopetegui project for such things to be a problem.

Lopetegui is running out of time. Not only are West Ham supporters growing uneasy, but danger is also brewing as the mainstream media is piling on.

Although we haven’t heard that Lopetegui just has three games left, I wouldn’t be shocked if that exact deadline has been discussed in private.

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