West Ham sacks Julen Lopetegui after poor first half to the season

LONDON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- West Ham United sacked coach Julen Lopetegui on Wednesday after just half a season in charge at the club.

Consecutive heavy defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City led the east London club to decide after it had looked before Christmas that the Spanish coach was beginning to overcome a difficult start to his reign at the club and slowly improve performances.

Rumors over the for