By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham had to dig incredibly deep to beat Bolton Wanderers 3-2 in what I thought was an excellent advert for Championship football.
Bolton took the game to the Hammers and, for significant periods, Stephen Schumacher appeared to be getting the better of Nuno Espírito Santo tactically.
I thought Nuno got his initial selections wrong. However, credit where it’s due, because he recognised the problems and his substitutions helped West Ham turn things around.
In this video, I look at how Bolton targeted West Ham, where they caused us problems and why the Hammers had to weather a genuine storm against a Wanderers side carrying plenty of attacking threat.
I also discuss which West Ham players impressed me, where I still think improvements are required and why Nuno deserves credit for rectifying some of his earlier decisions.
Most importantly, West Ham found a way to win.
After a difficult start to the season, the Hammers have recovered impressively and this victory sent us to the top of the Championship.
It certainly wasn’t comfortable, but sometimes these are exactly the games you have to win.
Hopefully reman in top three up to January and then buy striker and explosive right winger.
Additions will get job finished and go up top of league.
By this time shares should be sorted or Sullivan may have passed on.
In the Championship, it’s blood and guts in the middle of the park. You have to be prepared to fight for every ball, including second balls. It’s brutal.
What alarms me most about Hammers this season is that the midfield seems unprepared for this. None of them, with possible exception of Engels seems to want to get their hands dirty. And don’t get me started on second balls. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a West Ham player even attempted to go for a second ball.
Thank you for the article. What exactly is Nuno and the staffs plan on the right wing? Bowen cant play every game.
Nuno out?!!
The problems in defence were caused by Walker-Peters, the Bolton winger was outstripping him for pace and was taking him apart. Others like Bowen had to move over to help. We are on the attack the ball moves to Walker-Peters he takes it all the way back to defence and causes problems. Added to him the amount of back passes were stupid. Vellman came on and suddenly the problems ended.
Thanks Gonzo, always great to get your thoughts on the game 🙂