Kudus West Ham Altercation With Lopetegui ‘Played Down’
The Spaniard hooked the Ghanaian at half-time at the weekend
West Ham United star Mohammed Kudus and manager Julen Lopetegui reportedly had to be separated on Saturday afternoon when the star was substituted against Brentford at half-time – but reports have suggested that the Irons have denied any misdemeanours in their half-time team talk in west London.Brentford went 1-0 up inside 60 seconds for the third time in three games, setting a Premier League record in the process – and with the Hammers playing poorly, Kudus was substituted at half-time. Tomas Soucek scored 10 minutes after the break to change the tide, and with Lopetegui’s side securing a result, it can be considered a strong point all in all. But whilst Kudus reportedly wasn’t happy, any altercation has been played down.Lopetegui has only won one of his six Premier League games in charge at the London Stadium to start the season, though he is understood to have been encouraged by the former Ajax man’s ‘passionate’ reaction, which showed that he cared enough about the game.
The draw rescued a point for the Hammers, but their start to the season has been largely underwhelming and that has already seen Lopetegui walking on thin ice despite joining in July. The Spaniard has spent £120million since taking over, and results on the pitch are not producing the success expected with that amount of money spent.
A talkSPORT report states that their West Ham sources have played down any rumours of a dressing room ‘altercation’ between manager Lopetegui and star man Kudus.
Kudus, who has been described as “unbelievable” wasn’t happy after being singled out for criticism by Lopetegui over the weekend in the 1-1 draw away at the Bees, before being substituted at half-time at the Gtech Community Stadium whilst Brentford were leading.
Mohammed Kudus is Vital For West Ham
The winger has been in superb form for the Hammers
Kudus has been a hit since joining West Ham, at least under David Moyes. Having taken off at Ajax in the 2022/23 season with 18 goals in 42 games in all competitions and a further four in his final three games for the club at the start of last season, he notched 14 goals in last season to start life at the Hammers in a strong manner.
That hasn’t continued this time around, with no goals in his first eight games, and having been substituted at half-time against the Bees, there will be murmurs of doubts surrounding his future in east London.
The winger had the most successful dribbles of any Premier League player last season with 124, and having only just turned 24 years of age, there is much improvement to be had from the former Nordsjaelland man throughout his career. Of course, that won’t happen with shortened game time under his new boss, but Lopetegui did manage to grind out a draw once Kudus had gone off and there will be opportunities to impress again throughout the season.
West Ham’s squad is easily good enough to finish in the top half, and although they are only four points from that total, performances so far have not been inspiring enough to suggest that Lopetegui is the man to drag them there.
They’re not done strengthening yet either, with decisions made on the future of some long-time members of the squad, and replacements eyed up.
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