“Your move, West Ham” – Collymore throws down the gauntlet as spectre of Moyes return looms

It’s true that Julen Lopetegui hasn’t enjoyed the best start to his West Ham career. Far from it in fact.

His Hammers team has looked slow, disjointed and disinterested, and if the Spaniard isn’t careful, he could quickly find himself unemployed again.

There was always a feeling that things were going to take time to gel in any event, and that would’ve been compounded by the Irons spending spree in the summer transfer window.

West Ham need to give Lopetegui time says Collymore

Things don’t just magically work when you parachute multiple new players into the squad environment.

Such is the fickle nature of football these days, however, that immediate success is demanded, with no thought given to the extenuating circumstances.

Whilst it’s clear that Lopetegui needs results to improve in the short term, he also needs to be given time to get his ideas across according to Stan Collymore.

“From my perspective, it’s really simple for Lopetegui; he’s probably got to win two thirds of his games before the Christmas break to have a chance of then going “it’s taken a little bit of time, but here we are to silence the doubters,”” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Lopetegui’s been at Real Madrid, the Spanish national team, Wolverhampton Wanderers… there are people that will say if you give this guy time, he’ll get you to the promised land.”

Though David Moyes’ style of football wasn’t to everyone’s liking, the notion of a third stint for the Scot at the London Stadium appears to be gaining traction.

“David Moyes was on Keys and Gray at the weekend which, whether we like it or not, has traction in the English language, and so a lot of people are going to get to watch David Moyes talking again about his philosophy in the game, and how he’s putting himself back out there again,” Collymore continued.

“I can see the narrative and what’s potentially coming.”

For impatient West Ham fans who are desperate for success, Moyes looks to be their saviour, but as Collymore notes, a ‘new manager bounce’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“On Sky Sports the other day they talked about the new manager bounce, and the percentage points of the new manager bounce is relatively small,” he added.

“If the West Ham board were to pick the phone up at Christmas and get David Moyes back, the odds of him being better is about 2%, which would keep them in the position that West Ham currently in, around 12th/13th/14th in the table. Is that really worth doing?

“Your move, West Ham.”