West Ham’s turbulent start to the 24/25 season

National World - LocalTV

A review on the past few months for WHUFC.

Transcript

00:00So James, looking at West Ham and their season so far, it's been a bit of a strange season in terms

00:06of how West Ham fans might look back at this one. Obviously, so much success over the last

00:11couple of seasons, the back end of David Moyes' tenure. Then they depart ways with him, bringing

00:16Julian Lopetegui, a manager who's had incredible experience at some incredible jobs managerial-wise,

00:25the likes of Spain and Real Madrid, obviously kept Wolves up in the Premier League as well.

00:31So he had been in the Premier League prior and clearly wanted to continue and test himself at

00:36a bit of a higher level with more of a budget to work with. That didn't work out. How do you sort

00:41of, and obviously Graham Potter comes in, we'll get to Potter, but how do West Ham fans sort of

00:46review this season so far and what it's presented? Because it's maybe not gone 100% to plan.

00:53That's an understatement. I think a lot of fans, towards the end of David Moyes' time,

01:01were feeling like they wanted something new. They wanted something different. They were

01:05fully appreciative of what Moyes had achieved, beyond anyone's wildest dreams, what he did at

01:11the club. But towards the end, that second half of last season, there were cracks beginning to show

01:17in David Moyes' West Ham. It just felt like we want a nicer style of football. We want to be able

01:23to go to games and still get the results, but then kind of also be entertained. We were no longer

01:28being entertained. The Lopetegui appointment baffled a lot of fans. Yes, he has pedigree.

01:38He won the Europa League with Sevilla. He's managed Real Madrid, managed Spain,

01:42and as you said, kept Wolves up. But he kind of didn't fit the profile that a lot of fans

01:48really expected the club to go for when it comes to moving away from what we were expecting and

01:56what we were getting under David Moyes. But there were a lot of fans that were going,

02:00OK, he's not really the profile, but let's just see how he gets on. Let's give him a chance.

02:05He even said before he was appointed in an interview somewhere that he felt like he had

02:09unfinished business in the Premier League after the way that he'd left Wolves. So I was clinging

02:14onto that going, OK, well, if he feels like he's got unfinished business, he's going to hopefully

02:18hit the ground running and he's going to be a success. And it just didn't work. And within

02:22three or four games, it was very obvious that it wasn't the right fit. Spent around 150 million on

02:28some good players. One or two players are still question marks over, but the majority of that

02:33business was very good. And it just didn't work. And I think the club left it too long.

02:40Probably could have could have made a change a month or two before they eventually did.

02:45But there were just times when you didn't really know, we didn't really understand what the tactics

02:49were. We didn't really understand. You could tell the players didn't really understand what they

02:53were doing half the time. You know, Aaron Wan-Bissaka was being deployed as a right winger

02:59half the time, even though he's most known for his defensive work, his defensive ability,

03:03and he was being played well up the pitch, way too far, being caught out of position.

03:09And it just it just felt like there wasn't any identity. Now, under David Moyes,

03:12we had an identity and there's an identity that we didn't really we no longer wanted.

03:16We were happy for it for a while. We were happy to be known as the team that were very defensive

03:21and very conservative and 10 men beyond the ball and beat teams on the counter attack.

03:26And it worked for a period of time. We wanted a more attractive identity and we went from that

03:32to then not having any identity at all. So it was a frustrating start to the season,

03:37given the expectations at West Ham, especially amongst the fan base is so much different now

03:42after what David Moyes achieved. It needed a manager to come in and really, you know,

03:48grab the ball by the horns and really take the club where the fans and where the club

03:52really feel as it should be, not challenging the top four or winning European trophies every season,

03:59but challenging in the top half of the table at the very least. And Lopetegui,

04:05we just lost that under him, really. It was a very frustrating start to the season.

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