If reports this week are to be believed, Julen Lopetegui needs a positive result against Newcastle United on Monday night.
The Guardian claim a failure to get results against Newcastle and Arsenal in West Ham‘s next two Premier League games will lead to the Spaniard’s sacking.
That means Lopetegui is going to need to pull something special out of the bag if he’s to continue in east London beyond November.
One way of giving himself the best possible chance of survival is to make some very bold selection changes to his starting XI. Up to this point in the season, things haven’t worked. The midfield has been unbalanced and defensively we’ve been caught lacking positionally.
That’s as a result of the style of play Lopetegui is trying to implement but there has to come a point when a manager concedes that what he wants and what he’s getting are two very different things, and changes need to be made.
So that’s why, if I were Lopetegui, I would go with this starting XI against Newcastle on Monday…
Firstly, I would drop Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Vladimir Coufal. Wan-Bissaka has been impressive defensively but he is clearly being given instructions to get forward whenever possible, which is often leading him to be caught of position and leaving us exposed down the left-hand side of defence.
Introducing Coufal to the team gives us more defensive solidity against a side that has a lot of pace in attack. If Wan-Bissaka plays and is once again caught out of position, Newcastle have enough fire power and speed to take advantage. It could be catastrophic.
Elsewhere, Guido Rodriguez appears to have become a Lopetegui favourite this season. He’s started all but one of West Ham’s 11 Premier League games but has often looked to be well behind the play and struggles to keep up with the pace of the Premier League.
Having Edson Alavarez back from suspension and Tomas Soucek being the most impressive central midfielder so far this term, makes it obvious to me that the two should form our midfield partnership against the Magpies. It will give us more balance and more experience in a game in which we simply cannot afford to have passengers, which Rodriguez often looks like in his performances.
In attack, the players pick themselves. Mohammed Kudus remains suspended, so Cyrsencio Summerville should start again and be tasked with causing Newcastle all kinds of bother with his pace and directness.
Michail Antonio will be tasked with bullying their centre-backs, as he normally does. The Jaimaca international has scored on three of his last four visits to St. James’ Park.
What do you think?
