Julen Lopetegui sack: West Ham exit inevitable as he storms out
Julen Lopetegui made no effort to thank the West Ham United fans after the loss at Manchester City with his exit now inevitable, Jamie Boyce has said.
The BallerLeague and ex-CBS presenter posted on X (4 January) at full-time of the Irons’ 4-1 thumping at the Etihad Stadium after Lopetegui stormed straight down the tunnel.
That away end witnessed the Hammers taken apart with ease by an Erling Haaland-inspired City side who scored twice in each half, with pressure piled back on Lopetegui after heavy defeats back-to-back.
Boyce said: “Julen Lopetegui walks straight into the tunnel at full time with no effort to walk over and clap the travelling West Ham fans.
“His exit feels inevitable.”
Julen Lopetegui surely on the brink after latest West Ham debacle
Lopetegui wanting to get back into the dressing room and read the riot act to his players as soon as possible is understandable after yet another thrashing, but his failure to read the room is astounding.
While the Spaniard and his squad will have either flown or driven to the game via first-class transport, the thousands of Irons fans who made the trip north will have done so at significant personal expense.
As a result, ignoring them at full-time – regardless of the result – is a bad move, and will do nothing to ease the strength of feeling Hammers fans have towards seeing Lopetegui shown the door.
The performance of Lopetegui’s side was much improved compared to their showing in last Sunday’s 5-0 loss to Liverpool in spells, but they were still hapless to prevent City racking up four goals themselves.
Lopetegui has been on the brink a few times already in his short tenure at the London Stadium, but after feebly shipping nine goals in less than a week, his cards are surely marked from here on in.
In other West Ham news, Julen Lopetegui exploded at a decision made against his side with the scores still 1-0 in Manchester.
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