Nuno Espirito Santo failed by David Sullivan already after ‘poor’ West Ham moment vs Everton
Nuno Espirito Santo already has reason to be annoyed with his start to life at West Ham, even after drawing 1-1 with Everton.
West Ham travelled to face Everton on Monday night, just two days after the Portuguese head coach was hired at the London Stadium.
West Ham sacked Graham Potter in shock fashion, opening the door for Nuno to take over as the new manager.
This was far from ideal, but it gave Nuno time to make big decisions at West Ham before his side lined up at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
It is now clear that David Sullivan has let down the 51-year-old despite picking up a point on Merseyside on his maiden voyage in charge of the Irons.
Nuno Espirito Santo fighting early losing battle at West Ham
Nuno will already be thinking of future West Ham signings, but for now, he has to work with what he’s been given in East London.
This saw him name a similar starting 11 to his predecessor on Merseyside, but he has tasted an all-too-similar fate in the dugout.
Everton went in front through a Michael Keane header in the first half, continuing the Hammers’ rotten run defending set-pieces, before Jarrod Bowen levelled in an improved second-half showing.
The manner of the goal conceded hasn’t been lost on Andy Hinchcliffe, who, while speaking live via Sky Sports Main Event on 29 September, has been scathing of the Irons as the defender opened the scoring.
He said: “We just talked about Beto. If there’s pace on the ball in, and you redirect it, it can get past the goalkeeper.
“West Ham don’t really squeeze out, they’re jogging out. They don’t really get out of the penalty area. Nobody is near Michael Keane. It’s so poor defensively.“
David Sullivan to blame for West Ham failings vs Everton
There has been no shortage of annoyance directed towards the management team in East London over the poor defending of dead balls.
This was always likely to be on top of Nuno’s priority list for his opening training sessions at Rush Green.
Despite coming back and being good value for a draw, it hasn’t been possible for the former Nottingham Forest boss to make this sort of defensive impact due to the lack of time in charge.
This has to be down to Sullivan and the boardroom at the London Stadium, who could have sacked Potter earlier to give Nuno more time with his new squad.
Instead, the head coach has failed to change this element of his side, and it has cost him dearly against Everton.
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