‘It’s Taking Some Time’ – West Ham Under Lopetegui

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‘It’s Taking Some Time’ – West Ham Under Lopetegui

BBC Radio London reporter Phil Parry believes it has been a tale of inconsistency for Tuesday’s opponents West Ham United so far this season.

2024-12-03T09:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

03 Dec, 2024

‘It’s Taking Some Time’ – West Ham Under Lopetegui

BBC Radio London reporter Phil Parry believes it has been a tale of inconsistency for Tuesday’s opponents West Ham United so far this season.

Sam Jones

2024-12-03T09:00+00:00

‘It’s Taking Some Time’ – West Ham Under Lopetegui

BBC Radio London reporter Phil Parry believes it has been a tale of inconsistency for Tuesday’s opponents West Ham United so far this season.

Sam Jones

2024-12-03T09:00+00:00

‘It’s Taking Some Time’ – West Ham Under Lopetegui

BBC Radio London reporter Phil Parry believes it has been a tale of inconsistency for Tuesday’s opponents West Ham United so far this season.

Sam Jones

2024-12-03T09:00+00:00

‘It’s Taking Some Time’ – West Ham Under Lopetegui

BBC Radio London reporter Phil Parry believes it has been a tale of inconsistency for Tuesday’s opponents West Ham United so far this season.

Sam Jones

2024-12-03T09:00+00:00

West Ham United are the visitors to King Power Stadium on Tuesday evening
Phil Parry of BBC Radio London gave his assessment of the Hammers this campaign
The east Londoners sit 14th in the Premier League table as things stand
They lost out to Arsenal last time out but triumphed in their last away fixture

The Hammers appointed Spaniard Julen Lopetegui this summer, a coach with significant pedigree - managing the likes of Real Madrid and Spain, as well as holding Premier League experience from his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers - following the departure of David Moyes.

Results have been mixed, with four wins and six defeats from their opening 13 fixtures, leaving the east London club six points above the bottom three heading into the match-up with the Foxes at King Power Stadium (8:15pm GMT kick-off).

“It’s a new manager who is trying to find his feet and shape,” Parry commented. "They have moved on and it has taken a while. It’s not what they would have wanted, but they aren’t in desperate stakes either. They are looking over their shoulder, but not because anyone is breathing down their neck.

The 58-year-old took charge this summer.

“They can’t take any chances and that’s why I think it’s quite a big game for them at Leicester. How the backline operates and work with each other is going to be important. They need to build from that moving forward.

“It’s just not gelled yet. Some head coaches come in and have an immediate impact. Others take a little bit of time. I do wonder whether it will just take a bit of time for the new head coach to settle down and get things the way that he wants it.

“Patience may be the key bit that’s often a limited commodity in football. If they play well, we know what they can do. But on the flip side, they have been heavily beaten at times. We’re still in for a roller coaster over the next few weeks.”

West Ham looked to have turned a corner after producing an excellent away showing at St. James’ Park last Monday, triumphing 2-0 over Eddie Howe’s side thanks to goals from Tomáš Souček and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, following on from another resolute defensive display to claim a point and clean sheet against Everton.

A 5-2 defeat at home to Arsenal three days ago put a dampener on that, however, but Parry believes that injuries have played a part in their form.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka fired in West Ham's second at St. James' Park.

He explained: “What you get with West Ham has been erratic. They’ve put in some good performances, but then they’ve also had some head scratchers.

“Newcastle last Monday was really solid, a really good away performance. They didn’t give Newcastle that much and took their chances, scored two goals and got a very positive three points.

“They had a very good away performance at Newcastle, ensuring they didn’t get broken down easily and took their chances. Not conceding goals was the bedrock for success at Newcastle. They conceded within two or three minutes against Arsenal and were already on the back foot.

“They went from that to conceding five goals against Arsenal. We ended with a seven-goal first-half thriller. It wasn’t helped by one or two injuries. They brought in Niclas Füllkrug as a striking option, but he hasn’t been available.”

A difficult evening against Arsenal.

The likes of Lucas Paquetá and new captain Jarrod Bowen, with his six Premier League goal contributions, are seen as key to the Hammers’ chances in any game that they play, while Mohammed Kudus is a player who continues to be missed.

“They’ve spent money and aren’t operating with the same squad,” Parry said on the changes from last season. “They’ve gone out and invested. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has scored a couple of goals in the last two games and he’s not an out-and-out right-back and could play further upfield and be more creative.

“Paquetá started slowly this season but is a player with real quality and can be really dangerous. We know Jarrod Bowen is obviously a key player as far as creativity is concerned and because he wears the captain’s armband, he leads by example.

“One of his predecessors, Declan Rice, likewise led by example when he went out there. They are without Kudus, who is a big miss because he’s a very creative player who can cause problems and when you miss players like that, it can cause problems. It puts more pressure on and allows the opposition to try and shut down the options easier.”

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