West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui faced the media on Thursday during his press conference ahead of our clash with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Tottenham play host to West Ham in the Premier League this weekend, and Julen Lopetegui covered a variety of topics during his press conference ahead of the game.
The Hammers desperately need a result against Spurs, but Lopetegui has a few things to worry about ahead of the match, including the fact that Lucas Paqueta was absent from training yesterday for unknown reasons.
West Ham will be buoyed by our win over Ipswich Town last time out 12 days ago, but Tottenham away is a different kettle of fish entirely.
A heavy to Spurs would put Lopetegui under real pressure.
His players have to be right up for this one, otherwise Tottenham will run away with it.
Julen Lopetegui commits cardinal sin during pre-Tottenham press conference
We as fans all know just how important this game is.
In the Premier League, Tottenham are our fiercest rivals, and bragging rights are at stake this weekend.
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Hopefully the players are fully aware of just how much this one means as well.
Lopetegui addressed the media this afternoon, and responded to a question regarding the significance of the Spurs clash.
And unfortunately, he committed a cardinal sin when answering the press.
Lopetegui said, “We are happy to have had one victory but now we’re focused 100 per cent on the next challenge against one of the best teams in the Premier League. They have really good intensity, players and ideas. I like to watch them.“
“We can’t prepare fully for the match because players have been away, but that is not an excuse.“
“I know about this derby but we have to put the focus on the football. We have to put our focus only on the play and the ball and that’s no different from all the matches.“
See, Lopetegui has missed the mark here by a very long way as far as I’m concerned.
This game is different to the rest, and the players need to be made aware of that, especially the new signings.
The West Ham players have to understand the significance of the game against Tottenham, and what it means to the fans.
If they look at it as ‘any other game’, they will not be able to match the Spurs players for intensity.
Julen Lopetegui made a big error by talking up the importance of the Tottenham game during his pre-match press conference today in my opinion.
I’m just hoping that behind closed doors he is drilling in to his players just how much this London derby means.