Nuno Espírito Santo says West Ham “owe the fans big time” after our victory at Swansea City, but let’s get one thing straight: he doesn’t have to thank us for supporting our football club. It’s in our DNA, and that isn’t going to change depending on who is managing the team.
I might be biased, but I’ve always thought West Ham have the best away following in the country. What has changed is the scale of our home support, which is pretty remarkable when you consider we’ve gone from filling around 34,000 seats at Upton Park to crowds of 60,000 at London Stadium.
However, if Nuno can use that sense of a debt needing to be repaid to motivate his players, then I’m all for it.
An Excellent Result Rather Than An Excellent Performance
Speaking to West Ham’s official website, Nuno described the Swansea victory as a “very, very good performance”.
I’m inclined to call it an excellent result rather than a very good performance. There’s a distinction, and recognising it doesn’t take anything away from three massive points.
For me, the clean sheet and defensive solidity were the biggest takeaways. Keeping nine-man Lincoln out was one thing; doing it away from home against the Championship leaders was something else entirely.
There were still mixed individual displays, as reflected in my West Ham player ratings, but we gave ourselves a platform to win the game.
Nuno Deserves Credit For Keeping An Attacking Threat
I also appreciated that, despite West Ham’s slender lead, Nuno continued to bring on attacking players.
That hasn’t always been the case, and I’ve certainly criticised him when we’ve retreated and invited opponents onto us. This time, both Taty Castellanos and Joël Piroe had good opportunities after coming on, even if Taty’s chance was subsequently flagged offside.
The intention was certainly appreciated from my side. We still had players on the pitch capable of threatening Swansea rather than simply trying to survive until the final whistle.
So, no, Nuno doesn’t need to thank us for doing what comes naturally. But if reminding the players what West Ham supporters deserve helps produce more results like this, he can crack on.
Wish people would get behind Pablo
It is all about confidence, if he could just get a couple more goals and I think hiis game would improve even more.
It is not for the want of trying, but for his pass we might not have won and his constant running
Let’s get behind him, he will be a very important player
He only wants to win and I think he sometimes tries too hard to impress.
I am not going to put players down but Bowen and Taty ihave been no where near their best,and I never hear anyone say a bad thing against them
It might just be that Nuno has more attacking options available from the bench and no longer feels the need to defend against lesser talented and motivated opposition.
Nuno is just one of few that ever thinks that the team we field is the right one. There are thousands that would have done something different with the available squad and many more that would pick a team including players ‘missed’ from our recruitment efforts.
Don’t think he was trying to ingratiate himself with hardcore Irons. More an appreciation of the reason why the club exists and a genuine thank you for all support.
COYI
Well said Gonzo The fans are the makeup of our club and always will be Happy for Nuno but still has a lot to prove for me What concerns me most is the insistence of playing Kilman Hes been poor for 2 years and still there WHY Maybe the fee we paid for him NOT GOOD ENOUGH
You can only beat what’s been put in front of you, and they did that!
Six points out of six and West Ham now in second place? Mission accomplished. Good for Nuno and the players! And Pablo not at his best? Yet Pablo produced the perfect pass for Kante to assist Mukassa for the opener. And thus, the last few days have seen a hard fought progress by the Hammers towards promotion.
Here’s a couple of ifs for contemplation!
If, Hammers ever get all their ducks in a row. IE, progressive coach, excellent players recruitment, pathway for top academy talent and began to consistently challenge for European football. Could we sell out an even bigger home stadium? Say 75,000.
If we got rid of stop/go stewards.
Allowed better access to the transport links and disruption for service/tracks etc were minimal!
Personally I think that we would. Comfortably too.
But what do you think 🤔
The result was good but was it really a good performance . Diabolical finishing could easily have cost us the game and Nuno still insists on picking Kilman . The man is awful and a mistake waiting to happen . Geonbeckis is waiting in the wings and hasn’t put a foot wrong when given a chance .
As an aside I watched the Cardiff game before ours and Nathan Trott looked very commanding and assured . Another big Hammers mistake letting him go I reckon because our current keeper is far from commanding or assured . COYI