With some fans unhappy at a negative, but often effective, style of football, the club were unable or unwilling to agree a new deal with Moyes as Lopetegui was named his replacement.
The early signs under the Spaniard were not encouraging. Home losses to Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea led to criticism that the style of football was the same, if not worse than last season.
Last week, ex-Hammers striker Tony Cottee, speaking on TalkSport, called the managerial move from Moyes to Lopetegui “a sideways step, not a progressive step”.
“I didn’t want him [Lopetegui] in the first place. I said ‘be careful what you wish for’ – David Moyes did a superb job for West Ham,” he added.
Was this win over Ipswich a sign of a more attack-minded Hammers side?
After seven league matches, Lopetegui’s team have a lower goals-per-game ratio than last season (1.43 this campaign compared to 1.58 last year), but also fewer goals conceded (1.57-1.95 per game), more passes (410-387 per game) and more crosses (26-24.1 per game).
West Ham also received a helping hand against a naive Ipswich side, who contributed to their own downfall with defensive mistakes contributing to three of West Ham’s four goals.
But Hammers fans may be liking comments from visiting boss Kieran McKenna, when he said: “Tactically, West Ham played very differently to any team we’ve played this season. They were very direct which is what we struggled with. Michail Antonio did a fantastic job in bringing in people like Tomas Soucek.
“In the first 60 minutes it was that direct play we didn’t deal with.”
However, before West Ham fans expect to see four goals a game, McKenna did add: “They didn’t have to work too hard for their goals. We conceded some poor goals at poor times, that changed the momentum.”
Meanwhile, Lopetegui was keen to praise his side’s defensive work instead of their attacking play, but tantalisingly said: “We had a lot of chances to score, but we can do more goals.”