As West Ham were defeated, they got a glimpse of what they have lost. David Moyes was at the Etihad Stadium, the scene of his last game as their manager. West Ham were beaten then, just as they were in Julen Lopetegui’s latest match in charge. There are ways of comparing the Spaniard’s tenure unflatteringly with the Scot’s but a record against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is not one of them.
Lopetegui was entitled to feel a 4-1 scoreline was harsh but another number, and another reference to West Ham’s past, reflected poorly on him. His win percentage as their manager has now dropped below Avram Grant’s. And if the Israeli’s statistics were padded by some cup wins, his lone season in charge brought relegation. Lopetegui’s debut campaign will not, reducing the need to parachute Moyes in as a firefighter for the third time, but his has been an expensive brand of regression.
