(Credit: Imago)
Josh Edwards
Fri 14 March 2025 16:10, UK
West Ham parted ways with both Julen Lopetegui and Tim Steidten over the last few months.
The current campaign has certainly been one to forget for West Ham, though things have started to improve since the appointment of Graham Potter.
However, the mess that ensued before his arrival caused irreparable damage to the season for the Irons, and both Lopetegui and Steidten had their part to play in that.
Lopetegui failed to motivate the team on the pitch, while Steidten provided the failures from a recruitment perspective, though comments from the former seem very telling.
West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui
West Ham sacked Lopetegui (Credit: Imago)
West Ham have moved on from Lopetegui failures
West Ham are on course for a season with no success, and the prolonged tenure of Lopetegui has certainly been the driving force behind that regression.
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The Spaniard was simply out of his depth at the London Stadium, and had no real game plan which left supporters questioning what they were watching on the pitch.
However, it seems seems like Lopetegui wasn’t overly fond of Steidten either, a sentiment shared by the Hammers faithful.
Premier League W D L P
West Ham 9 6 13 33
It has been an uneventful campaign for the Hammers
In an interview with AS (14 March), Lopetegui said in response to his relationship with Steidten; “I’m not going to talk about him. I’ve always had a good relationship with all the sporting directors I’ve worked for, even when we had our differences.
“I know that a club can’t hand over the keys to a coach, but I’ve always been a club man. That’s why I prefer to ignore that person, to be honest.”
Potter has provided some optimism at the London Stadium (Credit: Imago)
Potter looking to right Lopetegui’s wrongs
Potter has demonstrated his flaws at West Ham, but for the large part, he has spearheaded a huge improvement when it comes to performances on the pitch.
Their win against Arsenal was a showcase of some of the improvements that have been made, though they will only progress further if the right decisions are made in the summer.
Recruitment will need to be spot on for the Irons if they are to have any chance of competing at the top end of the Premier League again next season.
As for now, the focus will be on having a strong finish to the current campaign, with a view to building momentum to take into the new one.
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