David Moyes point raised at West Ham United as pressure grows on Julen Lopetegui
Fara Williams believes West Ham United fans should have been “careful for what they wished for” after David Moyes was replaced by Julen Lopetegui at the start of the 2024/25 season.
The Hammers are currently 14th in the Premier League and have performed far worse than what most fans would’ve likely imagined them to this term.
Writing for the BBC Sport website (14 November), former player and now pundit Williams shared what she’s struggling with regarding the recent performance of Lopetegui’s men across the season.
“I struggle to find reasons why it is not seeming to click for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham,” she wrote.
“If you look at their fixtures and the teams they have lost against – the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa – it has been a lot of the top teams. The only team outside of that that they lost to was Nottingham Forest, but Forest were in the top three at the time.
“Other sides that you might expect them to beat or get a result against, generally speaking, they have done that.
“It always takes time for a new manager and players to adapt. What West Ham fans wanted was a manager that plays with expansive, possession-based, easy-on-the-eye football and I do not think that is what Lopetegui is.
“You have to be careful what you wish for. What David Moyes did with West Ham in terms of taking them into Europe and winning that Conference League trophy, they were probably punching above their weight a little bit”.
Should West Ham United have kept David Moyes?
While Moyes’ team may have ended last season with the fourth-worst defensive record in the division, they still finished higher in the table than where they currently are.
Bear in mind that this comes after the Hammers’ major summer spending spree and the multiple arrivals that were expected to bolster their ranks and take the team up to the next level.
Indeed, some of the games that the Scotsman was in charge of may have been a boring style of play for fans to watch but it’s one that worked.
Of course, the near-perfect form of Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen also had a lot to do with it but the fact the team was mostly solid is something the Hammers could only dream of this term.
Lopetegui’s appointment so far has left a lot to be desired and unless things turn around soon, it could be curtains for the Spaniard and West Ham may be wishing that they offered Moyes an extension in the summer.
In other West Ham news, Emerson will surely be sweating about his starting XI spot if the Hammers sign Archie Brown in January.
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