West Ham have got worse since David Moyes left — they are the Premier League’s great underachievers
Share:
Though plagued by bad luck, Julen Lopetegui always looks an odd fit in east London and West Ham are paying the price. As West Ham were defeated, they got a glimpse of what they have lost. David Moyes was at the Etihad Stadium, the scene of his last game as their manager. West Ham were beaten then, just as they were in Julen Lopetegui’s latest match in charge. There are ways of comparing the Spaniard’s tenure unflatteringly with the Scot’s but a record against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is not one of them.
![[West Ham have largely been in dismal form this season]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/29/18/GettyImages-2191771667-%281%29.jpg)
Lopetegui was entitled to feel a 4-1 scoreline was harsh but another number, and another reference to West Ham’s past, reflected poorly on him. His win percentage as their manager has now dropped below Avram Grant’s. And if the Israeli’s statistics were padded by some cup wins, his lone season in charge brought relegation. Lopetegui’s debut campaign will not, reducing the need to parachute Moyes in as a firefighter for the third time, but his has been an expensive brand of regression.
![[Injury to captain Jarrod Bowen is a major blow for West Ham]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/31/15/newFile-8.jpg)
West Ham have spent recent weeks with Tottenham and Manchester United as their neighbours in the table. Were that the scenario presented in the summer, they may have assumed they would be competing for a top-six finish, perhaps higher. Instead, they have not escaped the bottom half since August. They had been a fixture in 14th, rising recently to 13th.
![[Summer striker signing Niclas Fullkrug has struggled to make an impact amid injury issues]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/21/18/1eb93001b7af3897b5a1d1712909cd78Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0ODkyOTM5-2.78544327.jpg)
Which, it is safe to say, is not what they envisaged when they committed around £140m to signings in the summer. Lopetegui was initially excited by the sheer scale of the budget. Now ambition can come to look incoherent. West Ham wanted better and got worse.
