Dressing Room Leaks Damaging Kudus Revelation
News that West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui and star player Mohammed Kudus almost came to blows at halftime on Saturday is incredibly poorly timed for the club.
I had rather hoped that the Hammers would be able to enjoy a controversy-free week in the build-up to the Premier League fixture against Ipswich. Sure, the 1-1 draw with Brentford on Saturday was no classic, but I believed it was just good enough to ease the negative pressure on the club for a week while the mainstream media focused their attention elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the revelation that Kudus “squared up” to Lopetegui in the Brentford changing rooms on Saturday could not have come at a worse time for the Irons boss.
I’m quite certain that this type of confrontation is a regular occurrence in competitive sport, particularly in the heat of battle. One only has to read any manager’s or former player’s autobiography to know that this sort of thing is commonplace.
However, there is usually an etiquette to this sort of thing, which means dressing room business stays private. “What goes on the mile, stays on the mile” … or at least until 20 years later when the books start to get published.
Therefore, it’s not so much the ‘squaring-up’ that concerns me; it’s the fact that someone in the dressing room decided to leak the news with the full knowledge that it would further undermine the coach’s position (which was possibly the intention).
Whatever the motives, things look pretty toxic at West Ham at the moment, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to improve any time soon.
The best thing for all concerned would be if Kudus takes his place in the Hammers starting line-up against Ipswich and kill the speculation.
