Julen Lopetegui finds himself under serious pressure at West Ham United, and the words of Guillem Balague today will not surprise Wolves fans.
West Ham fell to a 3-1 defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday night as their poor for continued.
It was a game the Hammers should have won on paper. But West Ham were wasteful against the Foxes, who are off to the best possible start under Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Lopetegui is now clinging onto his job at the London Stadium. There have already been claims West Ham could replace Lopetegui with Sergio Conceicao.
It’s being suggested that he may well be sacked, with the club’s hierarchy holding talks today.
Lopetegui getting sacked could have significance for Wolves, with West Ham’s next game actually being against Wanderers next Monday.
Certainly, many West Ham fans want him gone – but journalist Guillem Balague has today launched a passionate defence of his fellow countryman.
Guillem Balague defends former Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui after latest defeat
Julen Lopetegui, manager of West Ham United, during the Premier League match between Newcastle United FC and West Ham United FC at St James' Park ...
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Balague was in attendance last night as West Ham lost against Leicester.
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He’s been a staunch supporter of Lopetegui for years and despite Hammers fans chanting against him last night, the journalist remained supportive on social media.
Taking to X earlier today, he said: “Whatever happens with Lopetegui and his future, few things are worthwhile mentioning for those that want to reason about the situation at West Ham. The team played very well against Newcastle and also Leicester (31 shots on goal, record this season!), but they lack the confidence you acquire when you win two consecutive games. They also need to adjust the high line employed yesterday, and not to concede so early. That is more work in training, not an impossible task.
“Mind is everything in football and you can tell the players lack calmness right now in key moments during matches. It does feel though that the team believes in the idea and in the leadership, that is what it seemed yesterday. It is starting to be a recognisable team that wants to dominate, create chances, entertain. The reality is that this team won 4 of the last 19 games last season (same number as in the first 14 of this campaign). Many things are changing, and the feeling one has is that in the second leg of the season, with a fit Fullkrug, Kudus, Edson, this would be a better team with better results.
“Fans have got a role to play but many (not the majority) have decided their role is to create tension. Fair enough, they are free to do so even though I am not sure it helps the progression of the team. Whatever the board decides should be based on the performances they see (improved lately with the exception of the Arsenal game), the targets set at the start of the season, the trust in the leadership. Decisions about direction of the team were set by the board and it should do with change of style, modernising training, and the kind of things they asked their new manager.
“Board/chairman have to consider if that is going well, even if the results are not right now. There is a leap of faith to be taken here, but in my eyes also enough evidence in Lopetegui work that things can get better.”
Certainly, there are very few West Ham fans who share these sentiments of Balague today.
Balague has long championed Lopetegui
This passionate defence of Lopetegui will come as no surprise to Wolves fans, who saw a very similar thing when Lopetegui was at Molineux.
Balague actually did Lopetegui’s first official club interview at Wolves, with the pair waking around Molineux as they talked.
Then, in the summer of 2023, amid speculation that Lopetegui was unhappy at the club, Balague conducted an interview with the former Real Madrid and Spain manager, which many took as him trying to engineer his exit from the club.
Balague had insisted Wolves moved the goalposts on Lopetegui, who had complained about lacking funds for new players.
The interview Balague did with Lopetegui actually even left some Molineux officials unhappy, and it wasn’t long after that he left, with Gary O’Neil replacing him days later.
Wolves are struggling right now, but it’s fairly safe to say that there aren’t many fans out there who miss Lopetegui even despite all the positive PR from Balague in recent times.
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