Former West Ham ace, Don Hutchison, hasn’t held back in his criticism of new signing, Guido Rodriguez, and he lambasted the player after his Spurs showing at the weekend.
If there’s one fixture that Hammers fans want to win above all others, it seems to be those against Tottenham Hotspur, and the visitors fell well below the standards expected during their recent 4-1 defeat.
Goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola, was one to be criticised, though Hutchison was particularly critical of experienced Argentinian, Rodriguez.
Guido Rodriguez slammed by former Hammer
“Their midfield was awful today, West Ham. I mean, there’s no legs in that midfield,” he told ESPN FC.
“Guido Rodriguez can’t really move, Tomas Soucek is a box-to-box player but he’s not leggy in terms of getting round the pitch and stopping things.
“And [Lucas] Paqueta has one of those days where he’s good on the ball, but doesn’t want to track back.”
Although Julen Lopetegui has to take his fair share of the blame for not melding his new signings into something approaching a decent footballing XI, the players have got to help him out too.
Rodriguez is on a not too shabby £75,000 per week (Capology), and his lack of effort against the North Londoners just isn’t good enough.
It’s that, and the attitude of his colleagues that could see Lopetegui soon get the sack.
The Hammers have three more matches before the international break against Man United, Nottingham Forest and Everton.
If Lopetegui can’t get at least six points from those three games, there’s a cogent argument for the Hammers board to consider their position with regards to the Spaniard.
Bringing someone else in at that point would give them six weeks or so to review what they have in situ before utilising their skills in the January transfer market to help the Hammers out of their current funk.