Nuno Espirito Santo loses support in West Ham squad as new sack update revealed
Major further cracks have emerged from within West Ham as Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign goes from back to worse.
West Ham were comprehensively beaten 3-0 at bottom side Wolves on Saturday to sink to a new desperate low and the alarm bells around potential relegation are now impossible to ignore.
Nuno replaced Graham Potter at the end of September but with virtually all metrics showing a further deterioration since then Slaven Bilic is now being tipped to come in at West Ham if things don’t improve.
And with serious disconnects between the Portuguese and the Irons squad seemingly developing the chances of an uplift appear more remote.
West Ham still plan to stick with Nuno Espirito Santo
A new report from Jacob Steinberg in The Guardian in the wake of the loss at Molineux paints a bleak picture at West Ham.
Nuno is said to be on the brink of losing the backing of his players and the mood at the London Stadium is “rapidly deteriorating”.
Unnamed members of the squad have issues with the manager’s decisions on the pitch as well as his behaviour off it.
The former Nottingham Forest boss is claimed to be “distant and uncommunicative” day-to-day and multiple sources have said he’s barely spoken to some players during his entire time at the club, while James Ward-Prowse being frozen out has been highlighted as a “bone of contention”.
- Appointed 27 September
- 15 games in charge
- Only two wins vs Newcastle and Burnley in November
- 11 points won from a possible 45
There is reportedly confusion at Nuno’s training methods and his team selections, which hasn’t been helped by his lack of communication, while those who aren’t getting picked feel they don’t know how to work their way into the picture.
Some “key individuals” think they’re being played out of position, with swapped full-backs in defeats to Leeds and Brentford specifically cited, and “eyebrows have been raised” at the effect of defensive substitutions.
All of these factors appear to have culminated in the appalling defeat to his former side Wolves at the weekend, who hadn’t won a game all season, where Nuno apparently said little at half time when already trailing by three.
And yet the indications are that the hierarchy are set to stick with him and the sack is not imminent with the January transfer window still being driven by his preferences – West Ham have signed Pablo, agreed a deal for Taty Castellanos, and are expected to buy Nuno-favourite Adama Traore.
Another West Ham sack inevitable
If the leaks coming out of West Ham are accurate then it looks odds-on for Nuno to be sacked eventually, the club to be relegated, or likely both.
It is certainly hard to reach the conclusion that he is helping the situation when he’s picking up fewer points on average than Potter was, when the situation was already pretty terrible under the ex-Chelsea boss.
But when this Irons side have been pretty dismal since the latter stages of David Moyes’ time in charge and have got progressively worse under Julen Lopetegui, Potter, and now Nuno, it is increasingly hard to escape the conclusion that the manager isn’t the main issue.
| Managers since David Moyes | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals for/against |
| Julen Lopetegui | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 26/44 |
| Graham Potter | 25 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 30/41 |
| Nuno Espirito Santo | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 16/28 |
Why there would be any surprise that Ward-Prowse isn’t getting a look in is bizarre, when West Ham were willing to loan him out to Nuno at Forest last year, he decided he wasn’t convinced by him there, and the midfielder’s deal was cut short.
The 51-year-old has a reputation for not being the easiest to work with but has shown his methods can work at Forest and Wolves, but the latest updates give the impression of a manager who has given up on the current crop he has to work with.
If another change isn’t going to come soon then the Hammers’ only hope is he is sufficiently enthused by the January signings that the whole operation is transformed, but on current evidence there feels like a greater chance that the club are spending big for a manager who won’t be around long once again.
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