West Ham United MUST HIRE Frank Lampard If They SACK Julen Lopetegui, INSISTS Jeff Stelling! 😲

Now a slow start, well that's an understatement really isn't it, for Eulen Lopetegui at West Ham. The Hammers couldn't build on their victory over Manchester United a week ago. They lost 3-0 against Nottingham Forest. Edson Alvarez was sent off at the city ground. Will things improve or is Lopetegui's reign set to be a short one? Joining us now is a man who's got the Hammers at heart. A very good morning to Tony Coddy. Morning TC. Morning TC, how are you mate? Morning 14th place, 11 points this time last season. They had a few points more, they had 14 points, but of course there's been huge investment since then. Let's get straight to it. Is the next game before the international break against another of your old clubs, Everton at home, is that make or break for Lopetegui? Normally I would say yes Geoff, but I think the one thing that you can say about David Sullivan over the course of his, what is it now, 14 year reign, he's always been very loyal to his managers and I don't think that David Sullivan would want to sack Lopetegui. I think there's a lot of worry amongst the fans. I've been on before Geoff, you know my feelings about Lopetegui. He wasn't the man for me and I don't believe he should have been given the job in the first place, but is it a must win? You've got to say it probably is, but it's been a must win for the last two home games. They had to beat Man Utd, they did. They had to beat Ipswich, they did. So to be so early in the season having must win games seems a bit crazy to me, but they've got to get results Geoff. There was a lot of money spent as you said, £120 million whatever was spent in the summer and they need to start getting results and the performance at Forest, I watched the game, it was unacceptable. Tony, I'm going to ask you, what's actually gone wrong? I know it was a different front three obviously, no Antonio and Kudus was out, but I still stand by their front four as probably as good as anything, certainly in the top six, eight in the league. What effectively has gone wrong? There's a lot gone wrong Ali, I think. I mean the front four, you're right, there is some real talent. They got Somerville in from Leeds, the championship player of the year last season. That boosted the ranks if anything, but I mean Antonio's been playing in the centre for West Ham. They've signed Falkrug, he's been injured, not seen him. Antonio's now at the stage of his career where you get inconsistent performances because of his age. Piqueta's been all over the place in terms of what he's got going on. Jarrod Bowen had a long old summer, so he's not been as effective as he was last season. So that's your front four and that's before you even start dissecting the rest of the team. Both the goalkeepers have been in and out in terms of their performances, defensively all over the place. And the biggest problem for me, Ali, I think is the midfield. There's no legs in the midfield. There's no pace whatsoever in that midfield. At the weekend you had Rodriguez, you got Soler, you've got Alvarez. There is no pace and as a result of that the midfield's getting overrun and you're getting stretched at the back and you're conceding goals. You mentioned the midfield there and you mentioned Rodriguez and Soler and of course they're two of the new signings. Been unlucky with Fulcrug, obviously, but it seems to me he doesn't trust Somerville or Rodriguez or Soler or Guillaume. Should the finger be pointed at whoever has signed those players? In other words, is this down to bad recruitment as much as it is to management? Yeah, absolutely, Geoff. And the band who's done all that is Tim Steyden. I know some of the signings have been good and I think they will be good. Kilman over the course of his career at West Ham will be good. I think Wayne Bissaka's a good signing. If you get him to play in the right position, I'm not sure pushing him on and getting him too far forward as a wing-back and playing him in midfield, he's a right back and you've got to play him in his best position. I think Somerville will be a good signing. But with regards to the other seven, Geoff, you're quite right. The recruitment's not been good enough and that's down to Tim Steyden. He was given carte blanche from David Sullivan to go out and sign players. The two of them are key, the goalkeeper and you need a centre-forward who's going to score goals and West Ham spent lots of money without signing any players in those two positions. Tisci, what about Everton, mate? A really sore one at the weekend because I think they're the kind of games I expect Everton to take something from. I think they're okay, I think they'll pick up enough points at home. But that was a sore one at the weekend, mate. It was, Ali, but let's not forget they've had a little run of form, wasn't it? Four or five unbeaten, so they did pick up their results. It's a difficult one for Everton. I think it's one of those seasons for Everton and for West Ham, I might add as well, Ali. I don't think a lot's going to happen. I think they're going to end up between 10th and 15th in the Premier League. If you're very lucky, you might get an FA Cup run, but it's more so from Everton's point of view, in a way, because they've got the new stadium coming next season. They have to be in the Premier League for next season with that new stadium. So I think it'd be a tough game for West Ham and for Everton. If you could get me to sit on the fence, it'd possibly be a draw, but I mean, that's not good enough for West Ham. West Ham need to win and Everton certainly don't need to lose. I'm going into the game as always. I'm looking forward to it. It's Tisci, mate. Have a great day. Thanks for joining us. Great to see you, mate. Cheers, Jeff. Cheers, Ali. Speak soon. Jim, the West Ham fan. He's been a bit quiet recently. He's been a bit quiet. He has, Jim. But he says, now it's time to talk about the Hammers. Let's see how long it's going to take you, Jeff, to mention Moyes and how we wish we still had him. Absolutely not. He had to go, but the board found a cheap, useless replacement. Potter is available. We have to go and get him before Palace or Wolves do. Hey, Jim, thanks for the text. Appreciate it. I didn't mention Moyes at all. I'm going to mention somebody who might divide opinions, but is it time, if Lopetegui goes, for West Ham to bring Frank Lampard home? It's just a thought. Oh, there's one for you. Oh, Jeff. Well, he is available and he's there. You've thrown that in just before the news. He's been mentioned in connection with the Roma job. Roma, yeah. But West Ham would be ideal for him, wouldn't it? I know there's a man in situ at the moment. So it's obviously just a speculative suggestion in the future. And I honestly don't know how West Ham fans would react to that. I'm sure I'm going to find out. I think they'd be fine doing a bit too much, Jeff. I think so.