Sacked in the morning?

So it seems Julen Lopetegui might finally have gone. Once the news leaked that he was going to be sacked on Monday the board should have acted decisively. Whatever his flaws as a manager Lopetegui deserved to be treated with more dignity than left taking training while approaches were made to other managers. It seems likely that Graham Potter will come in though West Ham could yet be gazumped by Everton and the whole affair is reminiscent of the bungled Moyes exit and Avram Grant almost being replaced by Martin O'Neill.

It was never going to be easy for Loppy following David Moyes and implementing a more expansive style of play. But he has never convinced and part of the problem has been the language barrier. Fair play to him for learning English, but he wasn't as fluent as say Slot, Guardiola or Arteta and he struggled to convey the sense of passion that West Ham fans demand. He must have struggled to get his ideas across to the players too.

We never had a clear idea of what Loppy's playing style was and the side lacked identity. He never seemed to know his best side or what to do with the £27m Summerville. Keeping possession just seemed to make the attacks ponderous and we don't have good enough players to pass it out from the back. He was certainly unlucky with the injuries to Fullkrug and Antonio but having spent £100m it just hasn't been good enough, while the rebuilt defence has been leakier than last season. We'e lost by three goals or more to Liverpool (twice), Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Nottingham Forest.

Tim Steidten must also take a lot of blame for the misfiring signings. He's overseen expenditure of £240 million in his one and a half seasons, partly offset by £105 million for Declan Rice. Kilman has looked ok at times but also struggled against the big teams, Todibo is promising but keeps getting injured, Rodriguez looks average and Soler hasn't really got going. Paying £23 million for the untried potential of Guilherme was way too expensive and Fullkrug, though a quality striker, is 31 years old. Wan-Bissaka has been the best of the the new recruits, but Loppy seemed to have him going all over the pitch rather than sticking to right-back. WHU only have three centre backs and there's also been a discipline problem with Kudus and Alvarez picking up needless red cards. Apart from that it's been quite good.

I'm not one to normally advocate sacking managers, but there's been no sign of things improving after 22 games and just six wins and Lopetegui surely had to go. But David Sullivan, Karren Brady and the board must also ask themselves how they have managed to repeat the Pellegrini mistake of sacking Moyes, the most successful manager since John Lyall, for a manager with a glamorous CV promising to play attacking football, only to see it all implode. How has Steidten managed to get banned from the training ground by both Moyes and Lopetegui? They should also ask themselves why smaller clubs like Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton and Fulham are much better run than West Ham.

Now let's see who the new gaffer is and hope things improve.