Julen Lopetegui needs to rethink Guido Rodriguez West Ham plan after Aston Villa defeat
Julen Lopetegui must rethink his plan for Guido Rodriguez after his performance for West Ham against Aston Villa.
The Hammers began the Premier League campaign in frustrating circumstances with a 2-1 defeat against Unai Emery’s side.
If there was going to be a winner it was always bound to be Jhon Duran after being linked with a move to the London Stadium all summer long.
It wasn’t the ideal start to the season for Julen Lopetegui or new signing, Rodriguez in East London.
Guido Rodriguez struggles on West Ham debut v Aston Villa
There has been exciting building around the Irons looking ahead to the new campaign after plenty of top quality new signings by Tim Steidten.
This excitement was dampened somewhat when Lopetegui named his starting XI with just two of those starting.
Rodriguez was one of those and he struggled somewhat alongside Tomas Soucek in the midfield up against Villa’s quality.
After the performance that he put in against the Villans, Lopetegui may look to switch up his plans and play more of a double pivot to suit him better.
The Argentina international did manage to keep up a 100 tackle success [FotMob] but was often breached without being able to make a tackle.
This saw the 30-year-old make just one interception while also being dribbled past once and committing two fouls.
The midfielder lost three duels, keeping up a 57 per cent success rate which he would have hoped would be higher.
Considering his attacking capabilities are limited, if his defensive output isn’t top drawer then he will struggle in the Premier League.
In other West Ham news, Mohammed Kudus amazes BBC pundit with what he did v Aston Villa.
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