West Ham’s ‘goals conceded’ column makes pretty terrifying reading this year. Conceding a goal on average every 48 minutes is relegation-level performance. When put into the context of the summer’s transfer activity, bringing in three new defenders in the shape of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman at a total cost of around £90 million, shipping 28 goals in 15 Premier League games is unforgivable.
Todibo, of course, was missing at the start of the season as Lopetegui deemed him ‘not fit enough’ for Premier League activity. Many of us had the sneaking suspicion that this was more about Lopetegui playing club politics rather than player fitness:
Konstantinos Mavropanos begun the season until a string of errors brought Todibo into the side.
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The alleged bust up between Lopetegui and Todibo last month sent the Hammers’ number 25 back to the bench and apparently training with the u21’s.
In a move that signals -at last – a level of maturity and leadership being shown – Lopetegui is ‘reportedly trying to repair the bond’ with his French centre back. Givemesport.com suggest that Todibo is on his way back to the starting eleven, as their report claims :”But he [Lopetegui] has still been warned by influential figures behind the scenes that he cannot risk creating further friction with members of his squad if he wants to remain in the hot-seat.”
Too right. Banishing players to the under 21’s to train is no way to build the strong morale which will turn this fractured group of players into a winning team. Great to hear that the penny has dropped for Lopetegui and that Todibo could start again against Portsmouth, renewing the partnership with Kilman which shows signs of being the way forward rather than using the error-strewn Mavropanos.
Now if Lopetegui can repeat the feat with other malcontents, notably Mohammed Kudus and Niclas Fullkrug, West Ham really could be through their Leicester City low-point and looking ‘up’ the table instead of staring down at the relegation zone.