Julen Lopetegui must make brave Jean Clair-Todibo call for West Ham United v Everton
Julen Lopetegui must axe Jean Clair-Todibo from his West Ham United starting XI against Everton if he wants to beat the Toffees on Saturday.
The Hammers and Sean Dyche’s men have been two of the worst-performing teams in the Premier League this season compared to where they were expected to be.
West Ham currently sit fourteenth in the table and Everton are two spots lower.
While their Premier League clash on 9 November isn’t a relegation six-pointer just yet, if one comes away with all three points, it could be a defining moment in the campaign.
Todibo was only brought in over the summer on loan, but will cost £34million and although there have been signs of a solid player now and then, he’s often underperformed.
Hence why, it makes sense for Lopetegui to drop the Frenchman, change his formation back to his regular 4-1-4-1 and start Konstantinos Mavropanos next to Max Kilman against Everton.
Not only would this help shore up their defensive line but it would also help Lopetegui’s men deal with the midfield battle they’ll face with Everton’s three central midfielders.
Jean Clair-Todibo to be axed again at West Ham United
While Mavropanos may have been part of the defence that ended up with the fourth-worst defensive record in the Premier League last term, it feels like he could do a much better job than the former Nice man at the moment.
The Greek international was Lopetegui’s favoured option at the start of the season and even though he’s had a couple of solid outings for his country in the international breaks this term, the Spaniard seems to be stuck in his ways of starting Todibo.
If West Ham want to turn things around and mount a challenge for the European places, as they were predicted to do at the start of the season, it feels like bringing in the 26-year-old could be one of the best ways for them to do that.
Especially because, of the Frenchman’s performance in the Hammers’ 3-0 Premier League loss to Nottingham Forest on 2 November.
Indeed, the red card Edson Alvarez received won’t have helped matters much but Todibo still should have done far better for his team.
As per Sofascore, the centre-back made one error that led to a goal, won just 57 per cent of his ground duels and lost possession of the ball nine times.
One game shouldn’t define the starting place of a player of course but if Lopetegui did change things, it may finally start to click into place for the Hammers.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes has shared his thoughts on whether Lopetegui should be sacked.
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