For a defensive coach, Nuno Espírito Santo’s summer rebuild took on a surprisingly offensive-looking emphasis. West Ham said goodbye to sixteen of their players and carried out something of a last-minute recruitment splurge, once Nils Koppen got comfy in his office and the board let them know how much money was available.
Which wasn’t a lot. Nuno and Koppen then ignored the defensive issues that were only too painfully evident last season and set about bringing in attackers, wingers and midfielders and finally as a deadline day afterthought, Morato – a centre back who now starts at left back – and Adama Boiro, a left back who doesn’t start at all.
Ignoring the clear, alarm-bell-ringing urgency of replacing Axel Disasi and heading into the season with Kilman and Mavropanos pencilled in as the only two front-line centre backs.
Nuno arguably gambled with West Ham’s season by failing to sign a decent Disasi-like replacement.
With predictable results.
Claiming it exposes the real ‘West Ham Way‘, of rather inglorious failure interspersed with moments of brilliance – Mavropanos’ goal tally this season being the case in point- (planetfootball.com) sums up perfectly how the Irons have arrived at this daft juncture:
“Both the goalkeeper and two starting centre-backs at The Den were leftovers from last season’s relegation. Mads Hermansen is semi-decent with his feet, but his stature and handling don’t inspire confidence.
Max Kilman is being slowly rehabilitated through necessity rather than desire; nobody wanted to sign the £40million defender with five years remaining on his contract.
But it’s Dinos Mavropanos who best encapsulates the real West Ham way, a formula best described as 90% crap and 10% inspired.”
I’d suggest that is a little harsh on the Greek and doesn’t fully represent his value at the club: Mavropanos with four goals in eight games lies equal third in the Championship table of leading goal scorers – ahead of front line strikers like Dom Ballard and Andriy Gudjohnson – which certainly accounts for the 10% inspired component.
Dinos proved last season that when paired with a decent partner he can raise his own sometimes wobbly concentration levels and perform with solidity. However, Nuno’s gamble of failing to bring in a decent partner and rely on Kilman comes back to haunt him regularly and did so again yesterday.
So perhaps the “90% crap and 10% inspired’ ratio needs to be applied to Kilman and Mavropanos directly. And you and I both know who is which.
Trouble is, we all have to wait for Nuno to work it out for himself and tell Koppen to go buy a decent partner for ‘Mav’ in January.