17 hours ago
5
Nuno Espírito Santo has made a dreadful start at West Ham. He has taken one point from four games in charge and is already in danger of losing mutinous supporters after naming ludicrous starting XIs during his shambolic defeats by Brentford and Leeds.
Do it once and it could have been passed off as an experiment. No such luck here, though. There was bewilderment when Nuno played a right-back on the left, a left-back on the right, the ponderous duo of Tomas Soucek and Andrew Irving in midfield and Lucas Paquetá as a false 9 against Brentford. Nobody was surprised when West Ham, who were fortunate it finished 2-0, produced one of the worst performances by a Premier League team.
Nuno, however, appeared to learn nothing from the experience. After making three substitutions and switching to a back five at half-time against Brentford, the expectation was that he had accepted his initial system was an error. Everyone could have moved on. Instead Nuno stuck with the inverted full-backs, the Soucek-Irving axis and an attack led by Paquetá for last weekend’s trip to Leeds, who took one look at their feeble opponents, realised there was nothing to fear and swept into a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes.
The result made it two defeats from two against promoted teams – in a sign of things to come West Ham were beaten 3-0 by Sunderland on the opening weekend – and left Nuno’s side on four points from nine games, their worst start in 52 years. This is only ending one way, barring a massive improvement in almost every part of the pitch. Jarrod Bowen remains the one bright spot but even he looks powerless to save this wretched team from relegation.
It speaks volumes that West Ham had a better record at this stage when they went down under Avram Grant in 2010-11. Who knew it was possible to be worse than that team? At least Grant had characters such as Scott Parker and Mark Noble. Nuno, by contrast, is bereft of leaders. It was a major problem under Graham Potter, who was unable to foster togetherness in the dressing room before his brutal sacking at the end of September, and is yet to be remedied.
West Ham, who have been in the bottom three all season, look beaten and broken. They are yet to pick up a point at home and will be up against it when they host Newcastle on Sunday. Eddie Howe’s side may not have to do much more than silence the crowd and exploit West Ham’s frailties at set pieces.
A West Ham win would defy logic. Three points are desperately required, though. There is a lot of talk about West Ham sorting themselves out during the January transfer window but they could be cut adrift by then. The fixture list before Christmas is not kind and an awful defence will be further weakened when Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf are away with, respectively, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on 21 December.
Transfers to save the day, then? This is fanciful stuff. The expectation is that funds will be limited. Perhaps money can be raised by selling Paquetá. Even then, though, recent recruitment hardly inspires confidence. Nuno’s squad contains erratic goalkeepers, error-prone and powderpuff centre-backs and some of the slowest midfielders around. There is no obvious coherent XI. Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa joined in the summer and have shown promise in midfield but they are inexperienced and have come into a losing team.
Why did West Ham not look at Jordan Henderson or Granit Xhaka? Instead they have repeatedly added players from relegated teams. Mads Hermansen, the Danish goalkeeper, lost most weeks with Leicester last season. Fernandes experienced similar at Southampton. Sunderland were smart to add Xhaka’s knowhow, just as Brentford have benefited from Henderson’s intelligence.
West Ham have just thrown kids into a sorry situation and hoped for the best. There is no direction. Diouf’s crossing is effective but the left-back looks defensively naive. The centre-backs crumble under high balls. Can West Ham sit back and spoil? Sort of, but would you really trust Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo to keep it tight? And if the answer is no, then would you really expect West Ham to play a successful pressing game when Nuno’s strikers are the 32-year-old Niclas Füllkrug, who is rarely fit, and the 33-year-old Callum Wilson?
Nuno has shown little faith in Wilson, who was an unused substitute against Brentford even though Füllkrug was unavailable. Yet his options are few and far between. Callum Marshall, a 20-year-old academy graduate, struggled when he came on. Wilson at least offered nous off the bench against Leeds and will have the added motivation of facing his old club if he starts against Newcastle.
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There is surely a better path than the one taken by Nuno. He has banished James Ward-Prowse even though the midfielder offers more than Irving. It is counterproductive. Ward-Prowse was not playing well under Potter and quickly fell out of favour while on loan at Nuno’s Nottingham Forest last season but he is experienced and his deliveries could come in handy in a league dominated by set pieces.
Admittedly the solutions are limited. And this is not really about one manager’s failings. If West Ham go down it will be because of David Sullivan. The club’s largest shareholder and most influential figure calls the shots. West Ham are paying the price for years of botched recruitment. Sullivan allowed Tim Steidten to waste vast sums as technical director. He then put Kyle Macaulay, who was close to Potter, in charge of recruitment. Macaulay had never been in such a high-profile position. He struggled to identify sensible signings last summer and departed after Potter’s exit.
An external replacement for Macaulay is not imminent. And while West Ham have finally realised that the guy in charge of recruitment should not be so close to the manager, it is all a bit late for that. The mess has been made. The finances are in a state.
Sullivan trusts the wrong people. Even now it is possible to wonder whether West Ham knew what they were doing when they convinced Nuno to join. It had not been long since his draining demise at Forest. Could he have done with more of a break? It is worth remembering that the head coach has not been able to bring his entire backroom staff to West Ham. He is short of support and ideas.
But there is no time for regrets now. West Ham need an energised Nuno. They need him to come out fighting and make smarter decisions. Otherwise the Championship beckons.
