West Ham United have been pretty rubbish this season, and it’s starting to feel like Julen Lopetegui has a hopeless task in turning the ship around.
It just hasn’t worked out. There’s an air of dejection in east London, with the Hammers bereft of ideas and incentive. It was the right time for David Moyes to leave before the summer, but securing a worthy successor was imperative, for West Ham had won the Conference League in 2022/23 and have a squad borne with quality that the lion’s share across Europe can only dream of.
Something needs to change. Fortunes could be redirected, but it’s a long season ahead, and Lopetegui’s two-year contract (with the option for a further year) is longer still.
It would be fair to claim that the Irons are suffering something of an identity crisis, causing a loss of fluency and isolation up top. Michail Antonio is suffering, but at 34 years old, he can’t keep starting as the number nine.
Michail Antonio's stats vs Everton
Antonio is a byword for loyal servant down in east London, with the veteran having amassed 320 appearances for West Ham and scored 83 goals.
But he’s showing the signs of an ageing star touched by the twilit stage of their career, with just one goal across 11 Premier League matches (nine starts) this season, as per Sofascore, having lost 70% of his ground duels too.
The heavyset striker prides himself on his muscular physicality and brutish effectiveness in the final third, but it’s only natural that he would start to decline and Lopetegui surely needs to drop him soon, with West Ham looking so boringly blunt up front.
That’s not to say that his impact is negligible. Against Everton on Saturday, West Ham might have played out a drab goalless draw at the London Stadium but there were flashes of… something. Antonio offered promise toward the end of the opening half but ultimately looked starved and sapped.
Minutes played
67′
Goals
0
Assists
0
Touches
30
Shots (on target)
1 (1)
Big chances missed
1
Accurate passes
12/15 (80%)
Key passes
1
Dribbles (completed)
1 (0)
Total duels (won)
9 (4)
Niclas Fullkrug (remember him) continues to languish in the infirmary, having featured thrice off the bench to start the season before missing eight successive Premier League matches. Don’t expect him back anytime soon.
Danny Ings was sprightly off the bench, nearly scoring, in fact. Moreover, Jarrod Bowen could play up top with more regularity; bringing dynamism and the club’s best goal threat, it might be an option worth pursuing.
Something needs to change, fast, or Lopetegui is going to lose his job. Antonio is not providing West Ham with enough at number nine, but more controversially, Lucas Paqueta should perhaps follow the Jamaica international to the bench.
Why Lopetegui must drop Lucas Paqueta
West Ham’s draw against Everton has seen them retain 14th-place status in the Premier League. The draw might have been met with better feedback if there was a bit more about the hosts’ performance, but it was dour and colourless and did little to keep the snapping detractors at bay.
Paqueta failed to impress once again, with the £150k-per-weer earner sloppy in possession, ceding the ball on a whopping 19 occasions, winning just three of his 14 duels and committing three fouls.
Of course, Paqueta is the greatest game-changer at Lopetegui’s disposal, but he can make an impact from the bench and perhaps must be forced into this role for the foreseeable to kick him back into gear.
As you will see below, he’s practically lowered his gears across every metric, no longer producing the all-encompassing midfield football that had led Moyes to hail the “maverick” as “incredible”.
Matches (starts)
28 (27)
31 (31)
11 (10)
Goals
4
4
2
Assists
3
6
0
Touches*
57.2
65.7
57.0
Shots (on target)*
1.9 (0.6)
1.4 (0.4)
1.3 (0.4)
Pass completion
80%
75%
78%
Big chances created
3
12
2
Key passes*
1.1
1.4
1.1
Dribbles*
1.2
1.3
0.6
Ball recoveries*
6.0
6.7
6.2
Tackles + interceptions*
3.1
3.0
1.9
Total duels won*
6.1 (48%)
7.6 (50%)
3.5 (33%)
It’s a brazen thing to say but would it be fair to claim that he looks disinterested? It certainly feels that way, watching Paqueta fail to give rise to that combativeness and creative ingenuity.
The Brazilian is perhaps suffering from his botched move to Manchester City, precluded by the ongoing case relating to betting breaches that may cast him into the great abyss for the remainder of his footballing days.
We may as well get to the crux of all this: Paqueta needs to be dropped. And not just for one game – West Ham meet Newcastle United at St. James’ Park after the international break – but for an indefinite period, showing to him that talent alone cannot allow him to keep his place in the starting line-up.
Lopetegui might be reluctant to make so drastic a decision, but he is staring into another period without employment, and his current place of work is weighing him down like a great millstone around his neck.
Everton were there for the taking, and might indeed have been defeated were West Ham a little more inspiring in attack, more incisive in the final moments.
Jordan Pickford’s heroics did foil the Hammers, but sustained pressure was not mustered and recognisable patterns of play were non-existent for most of the contest. It was a game that positively cried out for Paqueta’s influence, but it was a match that received but a trickle of the South American’s style.
The club’s devoted supporters are rightly fed up with the lack of progress at West Ham, which as a whole has not so much ossified as regressed.
Carlos Soler waits in the wings, remember, and could play a part. James Ward-Prowse must wonder why on earth he was allowed to leave on loan after one year in claret, a season that left plenty to be desired but still something to be praised.
Paqueta’s not producing his finest football by half, and he needs to be ditched, lest Lopetegui keep producing the same results and then face the axe in the coming weeks.
Forget Bowen: West Ham have another star who could save Loptegui's job
Jarrod Bowen isn’t the only important character for West Ham at the moment.
1 ByConnor HoldenNov 10, 2024
