West Ham news: Opinion – ‘Too soon’ to talk about Julen Lopetegui losing his job

I struggle to find reasons why it is not seeming to click for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham.

If you look at their fixtures and the teams they have lost against – the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa – it has been a lot of the top teams. The only team outside of that that they lost to was Nottingham Forest, but Forest were in the top three at the time. Other sides that you might expect them to beat or get a result against, generally speaking, they have done that.

It always takes time for a new manager and players to adapt. What West Ham fans wanted was a manager that plays with expansive, possession-based, easy-on-the-eye football and I do not think that is what Lopetegui is.

You have to be careful what you wish for. What David Moyes did with West Ham in terms of taking them into Europe and winning that Conference League trophy, they were probably punching above their weight a little bit.

It will take time but they certainly have a good enough squad. When you look at the players they have and the quality of those players, they should be getting better results. With the next few fixtures and into December, you would expect results to pick up and if they don’t, that is when the questions should start to be asked.

But talk of sacking him in this international break is way too soon. He has only just stepped into the role, but the expectations were a lot higher. Ultimately for West Ham it is about staying in the Premier League, then if they can get into those European spots they will be doing great.

Management is about time. The players have to do better, but the manager needs to be given a bit time to get that together. I do not think sacking him and trying to rebuild with someone else with the players he has brought in is the right answer right now.

Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport’s Nicola Pearson