Lopetegui's Nine Lives Live On After Uninspiring Draw
From the brink of sacking, Lopetegui has gone undefeated in his last three games, picking up 5 points.
The home game against Wolves seemingly appeared to be the fitting end of his time in the Premier League, with a replacement in Graham Potter supposedly at the ready, it was thought his sacking was imminent.
However, a lacklustre win with two very generous early Christmas gifts from VAR gave us three points and kept him in his job. Before the Bournemouth game, it was said that the match wouldn't have much impact on the decision to get rid of him due to West Ham being "LONG odds against winning."
One of Lopetegui's lives came through Fabianski's cat-like performance, saving everything in his path, ultimately leading to him winning MOTM while securing us more points on the board, in which we actually had a rather decent performance.
This, unfortunately, couldn't be the same against Brighton, a game in which you just wish you didn't attend simply due to the snoozefest we all watched, not to mention the freezing cold.
If you'd like a stat that would pretty much summarise the match, it would be that out of every West Ham player, the man with the most touches (64) would be Lukasz Fabianski...
The dismal nature of the football we are playing seems like 'Jules' is only doing this to keep his job, playing a very defensive style of football while then occasionally hitting the ball up the field, hoping that someone wins it and we can create a chance from it.
The exclusion of Carlos Soler was missed, a player who has started to find his grooves, this was shown especially throughout the Bournemouth game, he shinned, and upon taking him off, the decline began in the match, which only really led to us getting a point where we perhaps could've had three.
Decisions in Lopetegui's substitutions seem to be raising eyebrows more than being applauded; he has most definitely made it known during this season that he isn't afraid to make substitutions. Decisions against Brentford to take off Mohammed Kudus, or even in the game against Brighton where he took off Mavropanos at halftime for Todibo... which says a lot.
Jules' longest unbeaten record in the Premier League in 3 matches, with our next game being on Boxing Day away to Southampton, he has a chance to extend his record and a win would see us having 8 points in the last four, wherein the current silly season we are in, is rather good.
After the Southampton match, games against Liverpool, Manchester City, and Aston Villa in the FA Cup are to follow, it seems to be only a matter of time before the sacking rumours surface again, but for now, his unbeaten streak has spared him some of his lives, but how many has he used so far?
The site would also like to give its deepest condolences to Julien Lopetegui and the recent loss of his father before the Brighton match. Rest In Peace.
