- West Ham suffered their third successive home defeat of the season on Saturday
- Lopetegui was booed and it could get tough if he doesn’t get fans back on side
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Julen Lopetegui is not the first West Ham boss to be booed off at the London Stadium.
It was not the same level of toxicity others before him have faced and that is because it is still early days.
But the stats do not make for good reading. It is now three home games played, three home games lost. There had been some encouraging signs in the 3-1 defeat by Manchester City before the international break, especially in the second half.
The players looked to be getting to grips with the Spaniard’s tactics and, even though City were superior, they at least competed.
Against Chelsea on Saturday, West Ham did not show up and that is what supporters cannot accept.
‘It’s normal,’ Lopetegui said of the boos at the full-time whistle.
‘You lost so they have the right to complain for sure. We know this. That’s why the only solution to change this is we have to do better.
‘All of us, and the first is me, for sure. We have to change, we have to improve. It’s the start of the season, we have a lot of time to do this. In three days we have another match, another competition, we have to look forward.
‘We have to be ready. To be honest, we have to change things and improve on this.’
Former West Ham man and TNT Sports pundit Joe Cole went as far as saying it would be a ‘painful’ transition from the David Moyes era to Lopetegui’s style of play, but added that he needed time to get his ideas across.
It has not been easy for Lopetegui to bed in his eight new signings, with many arriving at the end of pre-season.
There was much excitement about French defender Jean-Clair Todibo but he is yet to start a Premier League game. Niclas Fullkrug spent the first weeks of the campaign getting up to speed but picked up an injury on international duty with Germany and has missed the last two games.
Max Kilman and Guido Rodriguez are the only two new arrivals to start every league game but the latter found himself hooked after just 38 minutes on Saturday.
‘It is the fault of the coach, so it is about me and not about Guido,’ Lopetegui said.
‘Maybe I can do better if I change one player before the half. It is about this and trying to watch myself and not the player in these moments.’
The midfield is starting to look like a problem area for the West Ham head coach. Edson Alvarez does still not look fit after returning from a hamstring injury while Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta have also endured slow starts to the season.
Crysensio Summerville had looked lively on his first league start but was taken off on 54 minutes, a decision that was met with loud boos from the home support.
That was a theme of the afternoon for West Ham. It is too early to say Lopetegui is under pressure but, now he has had a taste of how quickly the London Stadium can turn, it is vital he gets supporters back on side sharpish.
