After West Ham United ruthlessly dispatched of Ipswich in a 4-1 win a week and a half ago, Julen Lopetegui must have been wishing the international break away.
At long last his Hammers side looked like the real deal. This is what was promised when the Spaniard entered the building over the summer but it hasn’t all gone according to plan.
Well, there’s certainly some positivity in the air now after that four goal salvo and they will be bullish about their chances heading into a game with Tottenham who recently slumped to a 3-2 defeat to Brighton having led the game at half-time.
So, how’s the break gone for those of a West Ham persuasion?
West Ham during the international break
The big news ahead of club action pausing was that there was no place for Jarrod Bowen in Lee Carsley’s England team.
The Irons winger was selected during Carsley’s first camp but was perhaps harshly excluded on this occasion. Still, with Thomas Tuchel set to arrive as the new Three Lions boss, Bowen will be hoping there’s a space for him in the setup come 2025.
Speaking of England, West Ham defender Dinos Mavropanos was part of the Greek team that incredibly defeated them at Wembley last week, a game in which he won five of his six duels.
Further afield, Lucas Paqueta did not feature in Brazil’s 4-0 win over Peru in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but he did start the 2-1 win over Chile, although was withdrawn at half time.
Minutes played
90
Touches
44
Accurate passes
30/34 (88%)
Long balls
3/4
Dribble attempts
1/1
Ground duels won
3/3
Aerial duels won
2/3
Tackles
2
Clearances
4
Michail Antonio went goalless for Steve McLaren’s Jamaica, as too did Mohammed Kudus whose poor season to date continued over in Africa.
Kudus' performances for Ghana
Missing captain and Arsenal star Thomas Partey, it was an incredibly poor break for not just Ghana but Kudus too.
In African Nations qualifying, they drew 0-0 with Sudan last week and then slumped to a 2-0 defeat on Tuesday night in what was a shocking performance by the Black Stars, as the Ghanaian national team are commonly known.
Unfortunately, Kudus hardly played his part, most notably in the reverse fixture this week. Handed a dismal 4/10 match rating by the national media, Pulse wrote the following words about his performance.
‘The captain of the side, Mohammed Kudus tried to lead by example by creating magic from the first whistle but that wasn’t enough to inspire the team.’
So, it wasn’t the most scathing of reviews but it’s easy to see why he was handed such a low rating when you look at the stats.
During the game, the former Ajax man lost the ball a whopping 20 times and, as Pulse said, failed to create many moments of magic having failed to register a key pass or dribble in the match. To make matters worse, he only completed 67% of his passes.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a wonderful debut campaign in east London, scoring 14 goals and registering six assists but he has been some way off his best in his second term.
To date, Kudus has only scored once – against Ipswich last time out – and supplied just a sole assist as well.
If West Ham are to recover from their current slump under Lopetegui they will need one of their main men firing. That begins against Spurs this weekend.
Lopetegui could already have his own Jhon Duran in West Ham machine
West Ham could already have their own Jhon Duran at the club.
1 ByAngus Sinclair Oct 16, 2024