A journalist has told Julen Lopetegui what his first job must be as West Ham boss after David Moyes’s ‘worst ever decision’.
Much to the chagrin of many West Ham fans it now looks increasingly likely Julen Lopetegui will be their new manager next season.
The 5-0 humiliation at Chelsea has put paid to any talk that David Moyes can persuade David Sullivan and co to renew his Hammers contract.
Opinion polls among supporters of late have suggested some West Ham fans are so against the idea of hiring Lopetegui, they would rather keep Moyes.
For the avoidance of doubt, some even went to the trouble of setting up an online petition against the Spaniard’s appointment as Moyes’ successor.
After seeing Milan fans have success with the same approach, Hammers supporters underwhelmed and unconvinced about Lopetegui hope it will work on Sullivan too.
West Ham turned in their latest gutless display to sit alongside 4-1 at Villa, 5-0 at Fulham, 5-1 at Liverpool, 6-0 at home to Arsenal, 5-2 at Palace, 3-0 at a woeful Man United and inexplicably conceding four against a threadbare Newcastle to lose having been 3-1 ahead with 20 minutes left.
And seconds after the final whistle came the charm offensive from the Lopetegui camp.
The man who lasted two months at Real Madrid, was sacked by Sevilla, walked out on Wolves and has seen a job offer from Milan withdrawn is “excited” at the prospect of taking over at West Ham.
That may be because having watched the Chelsea debacle he knows he probably can’t do any worse.
Moyes slams lack of leadership at West Ham
But if he is going to be the man for West Ham, he will need every ounce of that enthusiasm for what is a huge job this summer.
West Ham have a decent starting XI but the squad is as brittle as the team’s defence this season. At least 10 signings are needed and the new manager will be expected to play a more entertaining, attacking style.
Over 70 goals have been shipped by West Ham this season. That’s the most Moyes or West Ham have ever conceded in a top flight season.
It’s the most goals against outside the bottom three this term. And only Sheffield United have conceded more goals in the last 16 Premier League games than West Ham.
Moyes said it himself yesterday he has seen a lack of leadership too often.
Journalist tells Lopetegui what his first job must be
And therein lies the biggest problem for Lopetegui if and when he takes over.
That’s according to iNews writer Jon West.
The journalist has told Lopetegui what his first job must be as West Ham boss after Moyes’s ‘worst ever decision’.
That being to sack Kurt Zouma as captain.
Back on February 13th I wrote right here on Hammers News that Zouma isn’t fit to captain West Ham, in every sense.
Zouma actually directly responded to that criticism by speaking out. It was the most vocal he had been all season on or off the pitch. But his words only served to prove he just doesn’t get it.
Now it seems many more share that opinion.
New boss must reverse Moyes’s ‘worst ever decision’
Moyes’ call to make Zouma West Ham’s replacement captain for Declan Rice was questionable at the time given everything that has gone on and his inability to play games close together due to knee issues.
Now writing in his The Score column for iNews, West describes Moyes’ decision to make Zouma captain as a contender for the worst of his entire career.
So much so he believes the next Hammers boss must make stripping Zouma of the armband his first job this summer.
“Whoever takes over from David Moyes at West Ham – and Julen Lopetegui could be forgiven for turning his phone off after this one — his No 1 priority should be selecting a new captain,” West says.
“Kurt Zouma is West Ham’s current skipper, as poor a choice as Moyes has made in his entire managerial career.
“The centre-back, arguably more famous for maltreating a cat than for any on-pitch endeavour in claret and blue, had a stinker of a return to his former club Chelsea.”
Not for the first time either.
Zouma is West Ham’s best defender on his day. But those days are becoming all too infrequent. He is looking increasingly immobile at times. And you only need to watch his lack of effort chasing back for Chelsea’s fifth goal to see something is amiss.
Which brings me back to my original point made back in February – Zouma is not fit to captain the club of Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds, Julian Dicks and Mark Noble – to name but a few.
He should never have been handed that honour.
Now West Ham must find two successors, one for Moyes and another for Zouma.