West Ham fans unhappy with Julen Lopetegui’s new claim about his career at the club
Though Lopetegui struggled at West Ham, he was recently keen to point out that the Irons were 14th in the Premier League table when they sacked him – four places above where they are now and above the relegation zone.
Speaking to World Soccer Magazine, Lopetegui said: “Looking what happened now, I think that we were not bad. If people look back with perspective. We were 14th.”
Those who follow the Hammers News Facebook page laughed at that suggestion.
West Ham fans tell Julen Lopetegui that he’s wrong
Those comments did not go down well among our Facebook followers. The bulk of them were keen to tell Lopetegui that the slide towards the relegation zone started with him.
He succeeded the divisive David Moyes in 2024 before Graham Potter was brought in to replace Lopetegui
“If we’re being honest, this whole charade began with him,” wrote one fan. “Got worse with [Graham] Potter. And diabolical with Nuno [Espirito Santo]. Bottom line is [David] Moyes shouldn’t have gone.”
Another said: “He started this. Poor recruitment and offloading.”
“Yeah you started the rot pal, then Potter finished it. Clueless on where to play the players,” said another supporter.
One fan added: “You brought nothing to our club and lasted as long as Lou Macari.”
Another said: “He’s why we are in trouble.”
“True but you made sure we ended up in trouble,” read another comment.
Why is Jarrod Bowen struggling when we need him most?
Lopetegui wants to return to the Premier League
The Spaniard is now coaching Qatar and is set to lead them into the 2026 World Cup.
It’s difficult to expertly judge Lopetegui’s time in the Premier League. He broadly did a fine job at Wolves but struggled at West Ham, although plenty of managers haven’t fully convinced while working here in east London.
Lopetegui, however, doesn’t appear to have been bruised by that. During the same interview, he suggested that he was in fact open to the idea of returning to the Premier League at some point in his career.
“For sure, one of my aims in the future is to come back to the Premier League again,” he said. “But now we have a big, big aim in front of us – to go to one World Cup. My dream.”
There was surely little point in letting Moyes go unless they were genuinely moving for a manager with a more expansive brand of football at the time.
Lopetegui, for all his quality, really wasn’t that.
