Julen Lopetegui slammed for what he did in West Ham United loss v Chelsea, ‘disgrace’
Gabby Agbonlahor has torn into Julen Lopetegui for a selection decision made as West Ham United lose heavily to Chelsea.
The Hammers fell flat at the London Stadium on Saturday (21 September) as they suffered their third defeat in five Premier League matches at the start of the season.
Agbonlahor reacted to the West Ham performance live on talkSPORT [23 September, 07:24am] and slammed Lopetegui over Nicolas Jackson opening the scoring after three minutes.
He said: “Some West Ham will want him to be given time – they’ve had tough home games. But please, football managers, don’t complicate things. Don’t put one of your slowest player on Nicolas Jackson.
“That first goal was a disgrace. [Enzo] Maresca would have been thinking ‘Oh, we scored?’. [Jackson’s] on the left-hand touchline – how has he got time to cut in? Honestly, sorry, I was baffled by that defending.”
West Ham United are in trouble after Chelsea loss
Lopetegui’s poor start to life in East London has raised question marks on whether he is the right man to dawn the new era at West Ham after replacing David Moyes [talkSPORT] and he faces an uncertain future after only five Premier League matches.
The Spaniard needs to deliver European football for the Hammers at the end of the season and, while his position is safe for now [Fabrizio Romano], failure to do so will surely result in him packing his bags at the London Stadium.
After a summer rebuild in which 10 new faces arrived, Konstantinos Mavropanos still starts and has looked well below par at the start of his second campaign with the club.
Max Kilman has also failed to catch the eye with his performances over the past few games following his move from Wolves. The jury is very much out following a £40million outlay to Wolves in the summer.
Tim Steidten secured the signing of Jean-Clair Todibo against the odds but he has yet to make his full debut under Lopetegui.
While the argument can be made that Todibo needs time to adapt to the Premier League, we’re talking about a fully-fledged France international who drew concrete offers from Juventus and Manchester United over the summer.
Lopetegui must figure out his strongest defensive unit and fast. The fixtures do not get any easier with a trip to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup midweek followed by a visit to Brentford in the league on Saturday (28 September).
In other West Ham news, the Hammers penalty controversy against Chelsea has enraged the former referees chief.
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