Bayern Munich star spotted watching West Ham United loss to Chelsea ahead of star performance
Michael Olise was spotted watching the West Ham vs Chelsea match ahead of his starring performance for Bayern Munich this weekend.
The former Crystal Palace star had the 3-0 Hammers loss playing on his phone at the Weserstadion in a photo posted by the Bavarian giants’ on X (21 September) and enhanced by ESPN a day later.
Frenchman Olise was keeping up with events in the Premier League ahead of having a hand in four goals as his side won 5-0 at Werder Bremen, scoring twice and assisting two more.
Julen Lopetegui under pressure already at West Ham
Unfortunately for Hammers fans if Olise took any inspiration from the action at the London Stadium into his match-winning performance for Vincent Kompany’s side it was likely to have come from Chelsea.
David Moyes’ Irons won the same fixture 3-1 early last season, and while part of the turnaround can be attributed to the Blues improving under Enzo Maresca since replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Stamford Bridge there are warning signs that Lopetegui may be taking West Ham backwards.
It is still early days but he has so far failed to get an obvious tune out of either the old guard or the new signings.
Perhaps most concerning of all is the fact that he looks to have already lost the home fans, with the stadium emptying faster than it did for the infamous 6-0 drubbing by Arsenal that was the beginning of the end of Moyes last term [Tom Rennie, 21 September].
The former Wolves manager will have to hope the scale of the change at West Ham is to blame for the backwards step from what was already a poor final season for Moyes.
A number of the new signings came in late on in the window so once everyone is up to speed there is scope for performances to improve a long way.
But early signs are alarming after a summer of building up optimism for the future and the defeat at home to Chelsea, notwithstanding an unlucky penalty decision, has ramped up the pressure.
In other West Ham news, Lopetegui confirmed a defender update amid links to free agent arrivals.
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