West Ham Online

Champions league here we come ! ?üòâ

He didn't walk out of anywhere..

Bienvenido! Tu suerte sera nuestra suerte Just don't walk out at the 11th hour if Real Madrid come calling... again ?ü§´

Cheers Mike. I thought for a minute Sull8van was up to his old tricks again

Sorry. Misunderstood.

I think prem teams can start trading on 14/15 June. International from 1st July.

Johnson is frankly not good enough (League 1 level player) Behave

"percy, no I think he's already started and preparing hard for pre season. that date, early july, is when he meets the players for the first time (I'd imagine a few may be delayed by the euros)"

Can't start until July 1st shirley that can't be right

"Exciting times. Steidten has got his man and has cleared out all of Moyes' deadwood on the coaching staff. A completely clean slate for the new manager, which is a good start. Now Lopetegui has to clear out the deadwood amongst the playing staff. Ogbonna and Cresswell are over the hill Johnson is frankly not good enough (League 1 level player) Right bank needs upgrading. We need at least one quality striker. A BIG rebuild is on his hands. Hopefully he and Steidten can make some astute signings."

"Exciting times. Steidten has got his man and has cleared out all of Moyes' deadwood on the coaching staff. A completely clean slate for the new manager, which is a good start. Now Lopetegui has to clear out the deadwood amongst the playing staff. Ogbonna and Cresswell are over the hill Johnson is frankly not good enough (League 1 level player) Right bank needs upgrading. We need at least one quality striker. A BIG rebuild is on his hands. Hopefully he and Steidten can make some astute signings."

"From todays Telegraph Julen Lopetegui has vowed to make a “big, big noise” at West Ham United after his appointment as the successor to David Moyes was confirmed on Thursday. Lopetegui, who has signed a two-year contract with the option of a further year, will officially begin work as West Ham’s new head coach on July 1 after turning down other offers since leaving Wolves in August last year. “We will try to put our stamp on the club,” said the Spaniard. “I feel that we have a fantastic platform. I think the last few years have been very good years to have this base, of course, but my ambition as a coach is always to be better and better, to achieve more and bigger aims and to encourage and improve the players, the team, and to compete because football is about this – to compete. We are very ambitious about this. “I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and for us it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here, because our commitment is 100 per cent to be here. We had other opportunities but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this. “We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise. That’s why we came here, and we are excited by this challenge. Of course, we are going to do our best to help the club and the team to achieve our aims. I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements.” A former Spain and Real Madrid manager, Lopetegui won the Europa League with Sevilla in 2020. Tim Steidten, West Ham’s technical director, said: “Julen lives and breathes football. He thinks deeply about the game, he is tactically astute and he has shown he can adapt to work in different leagues, in different countries, with national teams, and in each situation he has shown his outstanding qualities.” Lopetegui’s in-tray at West Ham Fix the defence Only three Premier League clubs conceded more goals than West Ham last season — and all three of those sides (Sheffield United, Luton Town and Burnley) were relegated to the Championship. Moyes has built much of his managerial reputation on making his teams difficult to break down, but that simply was not the case in his final campaign in east London. West Ham’s 74 goals conceded in 2023/24 marked a worrying defensive deterioration when compared to previous campaigns. Over the previous three seasons, they had conceded an average of 51 goals per season. The loss of Declan Rice, who joined Arsenal last summer, played a significant part in this defensive weakness. Rice is, after all, one of Europe’s most effective defensive midfielders. But there are also structural issues which Lopetegui must address, and concerns over the form of key individuals at the back. Full-backs Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell are past their best, while the showings of Kurt Zouma, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Nayef Aguerd have been patchy for some time. We can expect West Ham to strengthen their defence in the summer transfer window. Solve the No 9 problem Over the last decade, West Ham have cycled through an absurd amount of strikers in an attempt to either ease the burden on Michail Antonio or replace him as the main focal point of their attack. They have consistently failed to find the right man, and Antonio (now aged 34) remains the first-choice No 9. Gianluca Scamacca, Danny Ings, Sebastien Haller, Lucas Perez, Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez, Jordan Hugill, Jonathan Calleri… we could go on. All of these players have tried and all of them (to varying degrees) have failed to provide a long-term solution. In truth, most of them failed to even provide a short-term solution. West Ham’s reliance on Antonio has gone on for too long and must be addressed, either in the transfer window or on the training ground. Jarrod Bowen showed some potential as a striker this season — could he be further developed in that position by Lopetegui? Work within the club’s new structure The appointment of Tim Steidten as technical director, in July last year, marked a shift in West Ham’s backroom setup. It also marked the start of a difficult relationship between the manager and those on the executive level. Moyes wanted things done in a certain way, while Steidten had other ideas. For much of the campaign, there were sustained whispers of tension between the two men. Moyes has always wanted a big say on transfer dealings and he had his own thoughts on which players West Ham should be targeting. Those tensions hit new levels at the end of the campaign, when Steidten was actively (and rather publicly) working to find a replacement for Moyes. It was even agreed that Steidten would no longer have access to first-team areas while Moyes was around, which said plenty about the difficulties behind the scenes. Such friction helps no one. Lopetegui, evidently, must find a way to work more collaboratively with the powers above him. On this front, his experience at Wolves does not bode particularly well — he left the club amid frustrations over the club’s budget and spending capabilities. Impose a defined, attractive style of play One of the regular complaints made about Moyes was that his style of football was too “old-school”. Some sections of the West Ham fanbase demanded a more progressive, attacking style of play. Were such criticisms fair? That depends on your personal view. West Ham supporters certainly were not complaining when Moyes led the team to a gritty 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium in December, for example. It could be argued that such backs-to-the-wall showings should be treasured in a league where the majority of teams now aim to play in the same way. Equally, it would be reasonable for West Ham to expect a more fluid brand of attacking football considering the attacking quality in their squad. Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus, especially, will surely thrive in a more attack-minded system. The potential problem for Lopetegui is that there is uncertainty over the futures of both players, with Paqueta of interest to Manchester City and Kudus attracting admiring glances from top teams all over Europe"

I’m actually looking forward to this and especially the transfer window and how we set out at the start of the season. I reckon there will be rocky patches where people will jump on his back but come the end of the season I reckon the majority will be happy.

"Cos it’s the cheap option ain’t it, not dismissing his CV but he got the gig cos he was the best available out of work manager. As I say good luck and trust me someone who was massively Moyes out I hope he turn out absolutely brilliant."

Probably get the following as his first six fixtures Man C A Arsenal H Liverpool A Man U H Chelsea A Spurs H

"Agree- I mean I have some trepidation, but will at least give him the benefit of the doubt and a reasonable amount of time. Don't even know what he will have to work with by the time the season starts"

"Success for me was described quite well by Nigel Kahn. Moyes level outcomes, achieved with Redknapp style football/mentality in matches. Oh, and a team crafted that has an attitude all the fans can unite behind."

Massive Attack 4:00 Thu May 23 Exactly this. There many of us who hadn’t been broken by the long wait for a cup win at any cost to our style of play. It’s turned many into chasers of the glory like we’ve been on a constant downer through our history…..we haven’t……barely been outside the PL and never been lower than the championship in our whole history…..that is glorious seeing as we’ve never set ourselves up to be kings of football.

"Happy with this appointment and I like his initial soundbites. He's a modern day coach but at the same time has a lot of experience, and as said before he's hungry, has a lot of energy and has a point to prove, and is genuinely delighted to be here. Ultimately, time will tell of course, but confident overall and def expecting a better upcoming season than the nightmare one just gone."

"How are we to pronounce Lopetegui if we are to sing his name, assuming as you say we are Champions league bound?"

"What constitutes everyone's ""success"" though? One Hammers expectations of success will differ to the next. Personally mine will be heavily weighted towards style of play and generally enjoying watching the Team play. Taking Cup competitions seriously will be important too. Anything else above that will be a lovely bonus."

"Happy to see him say he was to be better and better, and to achieve more. A top half finish and play better football is easily achievable and should be the bare minimum next season."

Stowie.40 3:49 Thu May 23 Why do you say underwhelming?

"Good luck to the bloke, yeah it’s and underwhelming appointment not one most would have picked but he needs to succeed just so we don’t hear the careful what you wish for line."

"Good luck to the bloke, yeah it’s and underwhelming appointment not one most would have picked but he needs to succeed just so we don’t hear the careful what you wish for line."

"Welcome Julen, and be careful what you wish for! ;-)"