Official new manager - Julen Lopetegui

Yeoldhammer

https://www.whufc.com/news/julen-lopetegui-appointed-west-ham-united-head-coach

MrsGrey

Head coach.

Hmm.

buffybegood

Says he doesn't officially start until 1st July. Why on earth not have him officially start immediately; goodness knows enough work needs to be done to the squad for him to be working flat out with Timmy to assess new targets.

I get that "officially" suggests he may have input before the 1st July, but even so, get him in ahead of the players to find his feet; we're off to the US almost immediately the players return as it is.

This club.

ASLEFshrugged

From what it says it sounds like Steidten will be running things until the players return in July but Lopetegui wil be busy putting together a coaching staff between now and then

OldCastleSwift

MrsGrey said:

Head coach.

Hmm.

Some really positive comments on that in the interview I thought:

“I’m very close with Tim to be working to achieve our aims”

“Of course, in his part, he is responsible for the (transfer) market, of the strategy of the Club, and we (the coaches) are able to be responsible for the work on the pitch and in the dressing room… We have from the first day, one alignment about our ideas”

Could just be hyperbole, but I'm quite encouraged that we appear to moving towards a more modern and strategic way of working.

buffybegood said:

Says he doesn't officially start until 1st July. Why on earth not have him officially start immediately; goodness knows enough work needs to be done to the squad for him to be working flat out with Timmy to assess new targets.

I get that "officially" suggests he may have input before the 1st July, but even so, get him in ahead of the players to find his feet; we're off to the US almost immediately the players return as it is.

This club.

'Officially', being the key word. I've no doubt he's been working with Steidten for weeks, possibly months, and won't be sat on his hands for the next six weeks. I would imagine there's something in the fact that Moyes's contract doesn't formally ending until 30th June (he hasn't been sacked, remember) that prevents Lopetegui from being officially on the books until then.

MIAHammer

MrsGrey said:

Head coach.

'Officially', being the key word. I've no doubt he's been working with Steidten for weeks, possibly months, and won't be sat on his hands for the next six weeks. I would imagine there's something in the fact that Moyes's contract doesn't formally ending until 30th June (he hasn't been sacked, remember) that prevents Lopetegui from being officially on the books until then.

I don’t think there’s anything stopping us from having him on the books even if Moyes is still (officially) under contract. As long as we’re paying them both what’s the issue? I doubt Lopetegui needs a break considering he’s been out of work for a year

OldCastleSwift

MIAHammer said:

MrsGrey said:

Head coach.

'Officially', being the key word. I've no doubt he's been working with Steidten for weeks, possibly months, and won't be sat on his hands for the next six weeks. I would imagine there's something in the fact that Moyes's contract doesn't formally ending until 30th June (he hasn't been sacked, remember) that prevents Lopetegui from being officially on the books until then.

I don’t think there’s anything stopping us from having him on the books even if Moyes is still (officially) under contract. As long as we’re paying them both what’s the issue? I doubt Lopetegui needs a break considering he’s been out of work for a year

It's the only reason I can think of for having him start on that date.

But the bottom line is that I don't believe for a second that he won't already be working at the club.

PrestonHammer

Swifty is back Swifty is back!!!

Moojor

anyone else get a bit annoyed when you read the following

"Lopetegui will officially begin his role on 1 July for the start of pre-season, which includes a two-week trip to the United States for matches against Crystal Palace and Wolves"

Why are we going to the US to play Crystal Palace and Wolves...

buffybegood

Moojor said:

Why are we going to the US to play Crystal Palace and Wolves...

Exposure. Same reason we went to Australia to play Spurs last summer.

Whitehorsehammer

Moojor said:

Why are we going to the US to play Crystal Palace and Wolves...

It's first and foremost a marketing trip.

Moojor

I do get the whole exposure / marketing side of it, but "we" the normal people are being told to turn off the lights, use paper straws etc etc and those with money or looking to get more money are happy to fly around the world to play a team they could play around the corner.
How about we start hammering clubs/businesses etc who are doing this sort of rubbish.

thornburyiron

Interesting stat but not sure how relevant.

Manager comparison

Premier League since December 2019

Moyes Lopetegui
1.47 Goals/game 1.00
398 Passes/game 442
112 Passes ending in final third/game 103
1.40 xG/game 0.96
4.08 Shots on target/game 3.30
42.5% Possession 50.5%
1.36 Points per game 1.35

buffybegood

thornburyiron said:

Interesting stat but not sure how relevant.

Manager comparison

Premier League since December 2019

Moyes Lopetegui
1.47 Goals/game 1.00
398 Passes/game 442
112 Passes ending in final third/game 103
1.40 xG/game 0.96
4.08 Shots on target/game 3.30
42.5% Possession 50.5%
1.36 Points per game 1.35

I'm not sure it's particularly relevant as Lopetegui's stats are based on just 27 games where he inherited a team in the relegation zone (they might even have been bottom).

PrestonHammer

They were bottom when he took over.

thornburyiron

That’s why I said I wasn’t sure how relevant the stat was but given that loads on here complained that Moyes was too negative and defensive and in his time here we had 2 relegation battles and a diabolical second half of this season his figures compare fairly well with Lopetigui.

Slacker

buffybegood said:

thornburyiron said:

Interesting stat but not sure how relevant.

Manager comparison

Premier League since December 2019

Moyes Lopetegui
1.47 Goals/game 1.00
398 Passes/game 442
112 Passes ending in final third/game 103
1.40 xG/game 0.96
4.08 Shots on target/game 3.30
42.5% Possession 50.5%
1.36 Points per game 1.35

I'm not sure it's particularly relevant as Lopetegui's stats are based on just 27 games where he inherited a team in the relegation zone (they might even have been bottom).

Yeah, Lopetgui out!

MrsGrey

Totally irrelevant as not comparing like with like.

jay_in_cpt

OCS....Nice to see someone come out of their hibernation period...... Happy.....& BTW Welcome Julen, hope you do us proud....

Lukerz

Good luck. I’m excited to see what the change brings. Always an air of excitement when you change manager but he has big boots to fill.

His CV is impressive, as was Pellegrini’s.

Recruitment will be key.

thornburyiron

If as is reported his transfer dealings depend to a large extent on the £80+M for Paqueta, that’s not going to happen in this window and we could end up without him too.
Best thing for us is if this takes as long as the City FPR case to come to a conclusion.

buffybegood

Even without selling Paqueta there should be a decent warchest; it's always the same with Sullivan with an incoming manager. Last summer we broke even or made a profit; there should be our annual £50m or so that wasn't spent. Since then we've sold Kehrer, Fornals and likely Benrahma (the loan fee for him was so big compared to the option to buy him that they're more or less committed unless he was as bad as Phillips, which he hasn't been), so that's maybe £30-35m.

If Downes doesn't come back, that should be another £15m or so. Then there would be this summer's budget of, say, £50m. Even without a fee for Paqueta there should be a transfer kitty in the region of £150m. I know that doesn't go that far these days, and we'll need to unearth a few gems to fill all the empty spaces in our squad, but there should be some money to spend.

Lukerz

Lukerz

Lukerz

So in summary what can we expect (having read around):

1) more of the ball
2) good defensively
3) not many goals
4) 4-3-3 formation
5) low scoring games
6) higher defensive line
7) more examples of pressing

buffybegood

Lukerz said:

So in summary what can we expect (having read around):

1) more of the ball
2) good defensively
3) not many goals
4) 4-3-3 formation
5) low scoring games
6) higher defensive line
7) more examples of pressing

Hopefully point 3 won't be too true, the rest of it sounds good to me (5 being OK if we're conceding a whole lot less often).

Lukerz

Wolves were one of the lowest scoring teams with the lowest XG when he was there, and Sevilla very rarely scored more than 2 goals (was one of the lowest rates in La Liga).

buffybegood

Wolves were bottom when he took over, so I think we can excuse J-Lo a low xG given how well he did in getting them to 13th (above us) by the end of the season.

Bazshuayi

I thought about resisting saying it's provoking thoughts of advanced boredom but I failed...

I know it's most likely asking too much but I can't help wanting an attack minded team with a forward thinking tactically versatile manager. Hopefully he will be a step in the right direction

alderz

I think if you bring in a manager with a wildly attacking approach it would end in tears. To get to the point of playing a different style, we need to have players who are capable of it, and a lot of our players don't seem suited to a technical style. I think Lopetegui playing a 4-3-3 and being a defensively will make it easier for the team to transform into a possession based style. Then, maybe in 2/3 years time we'll be really comfortable in possession, solid at the back, and ready for a manager who can turn that into a goalscoring unstoppable machine.

claretandbluesky

When watching the behinds the scene I am so happy Noble is still part of the club. He wasn't someone who came in did a job and left, it's like he was born here and remains the custodian of the heritage. I loved the picture of Bobby Moore and Noble speaking about Kevin Keen, he will be so valuable and I really hope he stays.