Julen Lopetegui is in no mood to take the fall for West Ham’s dire capitulation in the 4-1 defeat to Premier League rivals Spurs.
When the Hammers were beaten out of sight by Chelsea at home a month ago, Julen Lopetegui held his hands up.
The West Ham boss admitted he had got his strange tactics all wrong.
The 57-year-old played Edson Alvarez as a libero grande centre-back tasked with man-marking Chelsea’s fastest player Nicolas Jackson.
West Ham were 1-0 down a couple of minutes in and 2-0 down shortly after as Alvarez’s lack of pace was brutally exposed.
Lopetegui subbed off Guido Rodriguez with half an hour played.
And after the game the former Spain boss apologised to the player and fans, saying it was his fault as he had got the tactics wrong.
Fast forward to West Ham’s game at their biggest Premier League rivals and it was more of the same.
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Lopetegui blames West Ham players for Spurs humbling
The Hammers took a lead through Mohammed Kudus and looked ok. They were pegged back and went in at half-time 1-1.
But the second half collapse was as alarming and chastening as Spurs scored three and could have scored six.
The manner in which West Ham concede shots at their goal so easily has been prevalent all season.
It means against quality opposition, it is almost impossible for the Hammers to keep a clean sheet let alone win.
Hammers fans are seething after the Tottenham shambles.
Thousands left 15 minutes before the final whistle for the third time already under the new manager.
Except this time he was not willing to take the bullets for his team.
Lopetegui has put the blame on West Ham’s players for the Spurs humbling and has criticised Kudus.
The Spaniard made it perfectly clear he and his staff had the players well drilled on what they needed to do.
But they failed to execute and let down the fans according to Lopetegui.
Some have been critical of the Hammers boss for failing to make changes sooner. However, while he conceded he wanted to get subs on before the killer third goal, the players on the pitch were to blame for the mess which unfolded.
Hammers boss takes new pop at star boy Kudus
“In the second half, after the second goal, we can do much better than we did to avoid these moments for sure because all our players knew what their players were going to do,” Lopetegui told West Ham’s website.
“We didn’t defend well. After the second goal, we had a lot of time to be competitive and to draw or even win the match, and I think the worst thing today was the eight minutes when we were not competitive…
“We wanted to make the substitutions at 2-1, but everything happened very fast. It’s true that even before it went 2-1 that we were thinking about changing the players, but things in football can happen very fast, and it was a bad moment for us.
“Despite not getting the substitutes on, I think we can do better with the players on the pitch. It’s about keeping the focus and the right mentality.”
The head coach also took a pop at ill-disciplined Kudus for his late red card, despite being West Ham’s most dangerous player.
His comments will undoubtedly make headlines after the pair had a bust-up at Brentford recently after which Lopetegui accused Kudus of not playing for the team.
“You’ve got to control frustration in these moments,” Lopetegui added about Kudus.
“I think that Mo had a good match in the first half above all. It was a pity that he didn’t stay on the pitch until the end because, despite that one moment happening, we have to avoid these kinds of moments.
“It is understandable to be hurt in this moment, but the players have to control this situation because the red card is not a good thing for him, for us, or for the club.”