Lopetegui needs urgent improvement as numbers stack up against West Ham

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Fresh start promised after David Moyes has not come – poor performances have left team languishing in the league

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Julen Lopetegui's appointment in May was expected to usher in a new era at West Ham. There was a general consensus that David Moyes had taken the club as far as he could, that the reactive football had become stale, even though the approach secured a European trophy.

West Ham had the fourth-lowest possession average (40.5%) in the Premier League last season as they defended in numbers before breaking at speed to capitalise on space vacated when opponents pushed forward. They scored the joint-most counterattacking goals (nine), and only 22% of their attacks came through the middle, the lowest in England's top tier, as they sought to utilise the wide men in Moyes's favoured 4-2-3-1.