Be careful what you wish for. These are the words running through the minds of every member of the Westham United family becuse they are already missing Moyes and Kudus’ magic.
The appointment of Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui was met with pure delight and joy from the fans of West Ham as they thought they were moving away from David Moyes’ defensive style to Lopetegui’s mixture of the Spanish tiki-taka and attacking system of play.
Under David Moyes, Ghanaian forward Mohammed Kudus was above description by words in his debut season in the EPL for West Ham United.
The 24-year-old scored 8 goals and provided 6 assists in the Premier League last season. The numbers are very deceptive because his overall contribution was immense and fans and pundits of the Premeir League tipped him for great things for the 2024-25 season.
West Ham have been poor so far affecting every player’s performance. All the stars in the team are struggling to grasp Lopetegui’s methods with Kudus especially dropping in form.
In Week 6 of the EPL, the Hammers travelled to Brentford in all London affair. The Bees drew 1-1 with West Ham puting Lopetegui’s side under immense pressure. Westham has won just 5 points from possible 18 scoring just 6 goals and conceding 10. They sit 14th on the log. It is very unacceptable.
Star Boy Kudus was replaced by Spanish midfielder Carlos Soler in the 46th minute much to the disappointment of the Ghanaian attacker. In the last 10 games for club and country, Kudus has registered a single goal contribution. He assisted Alidu seidu’s 44th minute strike against Niger in MD2 of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers in Berkane where Ghana drew 1-1.
It is so simple, Lopetegui is yet to figure it out the package kudus is. It seems he doesn’t trust him much, per the games played so far.
When Lopetegui was quizzed why Kudus didn’t return for the second half against Brentford, the 58-year-old former Sevilla coach said, “It was a tactical decision. I was thinking we need that. I was thinking that was better for the team and we needed these kinds of changes. In the second half, we worked as a team.”
His words suggest Kudus is not a team player.
Has the Ghanaian been playing for himself? His style has generated much controversies and arguments among many football fans in Ghana.
The young Ghanaian playmaker loves to keep the ball, take on defenders with his dribbling talent. Mohammed Kudus loves to shoot from afar. This is the type of player he is.
Lopetegui suggested after the game that Carlos Soler’s presence helped the team play as a collective unit.
Is he planning to drop Kudus in West Ham’s visit of newly promoted Ipswich Town?
Flashback to Ghana’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Central Africa Republic In Kumasi where Ghana triumphed 4-3 in June, some Ghanaians expressed their displeasure over Kudus not releasing the ball early on X. The West Ham forward immediately hit back on X and rubbished their idea. That was so dangerous because it is unnecessary as a professional player to trade words on Social Media with a fan.
For a manager to say i subbed my player not because of injury but rather tactical calls for huge concern.
West Ham fans fell in love with Kudus after his €42 mill move to London in 2023 Summer. They can’t wait to see their star boy return to the lovely form he displayed last season.
In as much as Kudus is not pleasing his boss, his boss as well is not pleasing the Hammers family. Fans on TalkSport UK have consistently expressed their disappointment in how things are transpiring albeit the season is too young.
They parted ways with the magnificent Moyes stating that they were very tired of seeing boring football every weekend. It is Lopetegui’s responsibility to get Kudus and his team mates firing and it is Kudus’ responsibility to start being a bit direct.
