'There is not a good pattern forming and the belief is fading'published at 12:20 GMT 5 December 2024


I feel sorry for most football managers because they can't legislate for small mistakes in performances.
As for West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui, you can say he hasn't had a lot of time, but he hasn't really shown much in that time to give people belief that changes will occur in the future.
From listening to people associated with the club, post-David Moyes they wanted to see a manager who brought something different and as it stands the only difference is probably inconsistency.
That is not what West Ham were looking for.
They spent money in the summer bringing in the likes of Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fullkrug and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, but none of those players have been consistently good for them or helped them to be a better side.
I would liken West Ham to Jekyll and Hyde at the moment. They won at the weekend but then they went to Leicester and they walked away with a 3-1 defeat.
There is not a good pattern forming and the belief is fading. I'm not saying that the players are losing faith, but what will it take for fans to believe in Lopetegui now?
Fans just want consistency. They don't believe they should be winning the league or finishing in the top four but with the talent they have they should be doing better than they are.
There have been many question marks over Lopetegui's team selections and tactics since he arrived.
They aren't really scoring enough goals, they are conceding too many and they haven't been competitive in games they should have been in. Quite a few fans are becoming anxious because of this.
You would have thought he would have found a formula by now that works given his previous experience.
Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Katie Stafford
