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Hello! Stand by for the return of Graham Potter. West Ham United are at it again.
Coming up:
🪓 Lopetegui’s undignified sacking
🆙 Kinsky & Bergvall boost Spurs
🇪🇸 Barca’s Dani Olmo loophole
⚽ New balls, please?
Hammers Strike: Lopetegui axed after player clashes and cutting time off
The juicy details in this gripping long read — the physical clashes with players, the whining over days off, the confusion about tactics and tepid results — should allow you to see why West Ham United and Julen Lopetegui were a dreadful match. Certain coaches are doomed from the start. He was one of them.
But every bit as dreadful was West Ham’s manner in sacking him yesterday, 22 games after appointing him. Lopetegui, to coin a phrase, was a dead man walking from last weekend’s defeat to Manchester City onwards. West Ham began courting potential replacements in plain sight. Lopetegui was asked to continue taking training anyway, even though his fate was assured.
His dismissal was delayed until West Ham had a deal with their next boss 100 per cent in place. We know this because within no time of Lopetegui officially leaving the club, terms were finalised with Graham Potter — back in the game almost two years after his own sorry demise at Chelsea.
Potter — who takes over a team sitting 14th in the Premier League — replaces a boss whose face didn’t ever fit.
Wrong choice
Lopetegui arrived as the chosen successor to David Moyes last summer. West Ham’s crowd were tired of Moyes. He’d won them the Conference League and he’d been on the scene for four and a half seasons but his style of play wasn’t floating anybody’s boat.
Again, West Ham worked behind his back in advance of usurping him. (There’s a bit of a trend here.) But in terms of Lopetegui, he was a random selection. He had Premier League experience after a stint at Wolverhampton Wanderers but his own style was unlikely to excite more than Moyes’. And it didn’t.
West Ham’s fans suffered buyer’s remorse from day one, like teenagers who went out and bought the Sega Saturn, only to realise instantly that they should have gone with Sony’s PlayStation. ‘Sacked in the morning’ was the vibe in the stands for weeks. And it had to happen.
Roshane Thomas and Guillermo Rai have done a great job of explaining why. There was the dressing-room scuffle between Lopetegui and defender Jean-Clair Todibo. There were constant complaints about how intense the training schedule was. There were mixed messages on tactics and disagreements with technical director Tim Steidten. West Ham have done the right thing — but in the wrong way.
The return of Potter
Potter’s decision to give West Ham a go intrigues me. He’s been out of work for a while but largely through design, as if he was waiting for the right job. But he isn’t famed for flowing football and it is slightly peculiar that he’s opted to resume his career with a club who are essentially an anagram of meander.
His contract at the London Stadium runs to the end of 2026-27. Talking earlier, he told journalists it was “important I chose the right option for me, at the right time. This one felt like the right one”. Potter’s a talented coach and it’s high time he was back in a technical area. It was high time West Ham started all over again too. But will this be love? Or is it just the same cycle recommencing?
News round-up
Young Spurs: Kinsky and Bergvall help beat Liverpool in cup semi-final
Advantage Tottenham Hotspur after the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool — and a healthy little glimpse of the future too.
They’re a bit down at Spurs because the Ange Postecoglou Express can’t muster a head of steam. But if you study their recruitment policy, the thinking is obvious: spend on potential, with a view to it paying off at some unspecified point.
Their latest buy is 21-year-old goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who a Bundesliga scout in Seb Stafford-Bloor’s piece boldly compares to the great Manuel Neuer. But to go by Kinsky’s debut last night — pin-point distribution, a very strong command of his penalty area — that’s not as outlandish as it sounds.
They’ve also got Lucas Bergvall who, like Archie Gray, was one of Spurs’ long-term investments last summer. Bergvall, 18, bagged his first Spurs goal, which turned out to be the winner, against Liverpool. There was no messing either with the finish. A nasty injury to Rodrigo Bentancur soured the evening but tails at Tottenham are up again. That trophy drought from 2008 onwards? It’s threatening to yield.
Olmo Back… For Now: Barca star will return during legal battle
Try not to keel over in shock but Barcelona have secured permission to continue fielding Dani Olmo. The cards don’t half have a habit of falling in their favour.
To be fair, it’s not that simple. La Liga and Spain’s football association (RFEF) maintain that Barca’s finances don’t allow them to re-register Olmo or Pau Victor, but the Spanish government has stepped in, ruling the pair should be allowed to play while a legal battle is contested.
Barca are through to Sunday’s Supercopa final after a 2-0 win over Athletic Club yesterday. Lamine Yamal’s filthy turn for the second goal (above) let football shine through the politics for a second.
It’ll be El Clasico this weekend if Real Madrid take care of their semi-final against Mallorca later. The judgement about Olmo means he (and Victor, but nobody is concentrating on him) will be eligible to feature in it. Never in doubt, eh?
Around The Athletic FC
Catch a match (Times ET/UK)
Spanish Supercopa semi-final: Real Madrid vs Mallorca, 2pm/7pm – ESPN+, Fubo (U.S. only)
FA Cup third round: Sheffield United vs Cardiff City, 2pm/7pm — ESPN+/BBC iPlayer; Everton vs Peterborough United, 2.45pm/7.45pm — ESPN+/BBC iPlayer; Fulham vs Watford, 2.45pm/7.45pm — ESPN+ (U.S. only).
And finally…
To be charitable to Mikel Arteta, different balls do fly in different ways. He’d have been better off dodging that subject after Arsenal’s Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United on Tuesday, but it’s a fact that the competition’s ball is not the same as the Premier League’s.
That said, footballs have always swerved in weird and wonderful fashion. And on that note, let’s pay homage to Roberto Carlos’ fabled free kick for Brazil against France at Le Tournoi in 1997 (the one which had a ball boy ducking for cover). Any excuse.
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
