West Ham United lost their opening fixture of the 2024/25 Premier League season, with Julen Lopetegui leaving several new signings on the bench and falling to Aston Villa in the capital.
It had to be him. Jhon Duran scored off the bench for the travellers to hammer the hosts down a peg, with Lucas Paqueta’s penalty previously restoring parity before the break following debutant Amadou Onana’s early header.
Lopetegui has much to chew on after his first competitive assessment and now must consider integrating more of the new arrivals to the starting line-up, with Michail Antonio among those likely to lose their place.
Michail Antonio fails to inspire
Antonio is a veteran and a stalwart. No West Ham player, past and present, has scored more for the Irons in the Premier League, but aged 34, his defects were clear against slick and stylish Villa.
Isolated up top, Antonio failed to hit the target and failed to win a duel, with his focal role at the front of the formation failing, simply, to inspire.
Given that the powerful Niclas Fullkrug has arrived from Borussia Dortmund for £27m and last term’s Championship MVP, Crysencio Summerville, is also added to the frontline, Antonio might find himself rueing to grasp the occasion and prove to his new boss that he is the man for the job at No. 9.
Antonio’s physicality and all-round confidence mean that he will play an important role throughout the campaign, even if he starts intermittently.
The same can’t be said for Vladimir Coufal, however, who must be sweating for his place after a display against the Villans that left plenty to be desired.
Why West Ham must axe Vladimir Coufal
Disgruntlement hung across the London Stadium after some exciting defensive additions were kept on the bench for West Ham’s 2024/25 curtain-raiser.
Coufal, who has collected a growing pile of detractors since the start of the year, did little to convince Lopetegui of his place in the starting line-up against Aston Villa, namely undone by poor positioning that opened up inroads for the visitors.
The Evening Standard’s Dom Smith echoed this sentiment, branding the £35k-per-week defender with a 4/10 match rating and writing: ‘Caught out of position by coming too centrally, allowing Lucas Digne and John McGinn to exploit the space down the left. And Duran got through late on, too, thanks to Coufal’s poor positioning.’
He was linked with a move away from east London before the summer transfer window opened for business, and despite losing Ben Johnson, the Hammers might be tempted to identify an understudy for their shiny new signing and axe Coufal from the squad.
Mounting a convincing challenge for European qualification is paramount for West Ham. Though there is plenty of work to do after an opening-day defeat against Aston Villa, Lopetegui has the tools to fashion success – he might need one or two more tweaks.
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