94Ha Viewpoint
(London Comprehensive News) Premier League team West Ham announced the dismissal of head coach Lopetegui on Wednesday (January 8) local time, and appointed former Chelsea and Brighton head coach Potter to take over on the 9th.
The 58-year-old Lopetegui was the head coach of La Liga giants Real Madrid and the Spanish national football team, but he only coached 22 games when he became West Ham’s head coach in May last year. He is the fifth head coach to be ordered to leave in the Premier League this season.
However, this is completely understandable, because under his leadership, West Ham only won one of the first six league games this season and suffered a number of big defeats, including a 0-5 defeat to the leader Liverpool at home in the last two games, and a 1-4 defeat to last season’s champion Manchester City away.
It is worth mentioning that West Ham was one of the Premier League teams that spent the most in the transfer market last summer, but they have only won six of their 20 league games so far this season and are currently ranked 14th in the league, only seven points away from the relegation zone.
It is understood that Lopetegui still attended training as usual on Tuesday (7th), but was officially notified of his dismissal after going to work the next day. West Ham wrote in an official statement: “The results in the first half of the 2024-25 season did not match the club’s ambitions, so the club took actions that were in line with its goals.”
Porter signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the team. His first task will be to lead the team to the third round of the English FA Cup away to Aston Villa in the early morning of Saturday (11th) Singapore time.
The 49-year-old Porter has not coached any club since he was fired by Chelsea in April 2023.
