Surely the performance level won’t get any lower than yesterday. We all feel bruised and beaten up after the trouncing delivered by Arsenal. This must be the nadir for West Ham United fans, because we bought into the false hope from the result but more specifically the manner in which West Ham beat Newcastle just five days before.
It seemed there was a fighting spirit and cohesiveness in the team. Wrong. The first 30 minutes against Arsenal blew that optimism out o the water, reminding me of the phrase “it is the hope that kills”.
However – the team and head coach need to pick themselves up quickly because there’s another ‘must win’ match – the latest in a series of ‘must-win’ matches coming round in less than 3 days time.
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And there’s a very big positive for West Ham United fans.
Returning from a five game ban, in a normal club during normal times, a player might be forced to sit on the naughty step and wait for his manager to introduce him back into the side after a due period of ‘penance’ waiting on the substitutes’ bench. But these are not normal times and this is far from a normal club.
Julen Lopetegui is a head coach fighting for his career and his reputation: Oh the delicious irony of having to call on Mohammed Kudus as his saviour to re-ignite West Ham’s performance against Leicester City on Tuesday.
It was Kudus who squared up to Lopetegui after being substituted against Brentford and apparently getting blasted by his coach for being too selfish: Now it is Lopetegui who must go to the Ghanaian on bended knee to try to inspire a return to form which, at its best, would simply blow Leicester’s defence away.
Kudus is back from his 5 game ban for Leicester – will he be Lopetegui’s reluctant Saviour?
I bet Lopetegui is going to put Kudus’ name straight back onto the team sheet for whilst he is stubborn he is not stupid.
If he’d just see the light and play him centrally alongside Bowen on the right and Summerville on the left in a 4-2-3-1 formation, he might finally surprise himself (and us!) and find a combination to ignite West Ham’s season and save his job.