“Those that fail to learn the lessons of History are doomed to repeat it”: A fine Churchillian quote in these times of crisis at London Stadium. West Ham’s Julen Lopetegui dances between boardroom inertia, dressing room bust-ups and rumours of fan boycotts in the next game against Wolves.
The Spaniard’s failure to impress at West Ham can be traced back many years, in fact a report by UEFA -no less- from 2016 entitled ‘What went wrong for Lopetegui at Porto‘ provides a fascinating insight into the head coach’s departure from the Portuguese former Champions.
In 78 fixtures, former Spain goalkeeper Lopetegui registered 53 victories, 16 draws and nine defeats. How we’d love those kind of statistics at West Ham!
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A weak connection with the fans was highlighted in the report: “The bond between Lopetegui and sections of the support was not particularly strong. That Porto have not won any of their three games since Christmas only exacerbated the situation, not to mention their inability to make the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League”
High spend with little impact was also mentioned in the report:”..for the 2015/16 campaign some high-profile signings were made. Giannelli Imbula arrived for a Portuguese-record €20m from Marseille, while the impressive André André, Maxi Pereira, Miguel Layún and Iker Casillas were also recruited.”
Lopetegui at Porto
“The 49-year-old Basque had promised to revolutionise the side’s style of play but has gone after a year and a half in charge … the main criticism was that Porto’s possession was inconsequential – possession for possession’s sake. They have struggled since last term to penetrate tight defences.”
Spotting any trends yet? Now I begin to understand why there were some who were not so enthusiastic when Lopetegui was unveiled in August.
Trouble is, pretty much every manager or ‘head coach’ goes through ups and downs, it is part of football and life. Some like Jose Mourinho seem to have that certain bullet-proof personality to move onward and upward, whilst some are stuck in the vortex of repeating past mistakes.