Nuno Espírito Santo is gradually making his mark at West Ham and has shown a ruthless streak. His approach signals a decisive break from Graham Potter’s era, prioritising discipline, tactical fit, and long-term squad reshaping over sentimentality.
The quartet of Niclas Fullkrug , James Ward-Prowse, Luis Guilherme, and Guido Rodriguez are now facing up to the consequences of being frozen out of his plans.
James Ward-Prowse, once a £30m signing and vice-captain under Graham Potter, has been completely excluded from match day squads since Nuno’s arrival. Ironically Ward Prowse was a player that had previously joined Nuno on loan at Notts Forest yet was recalled half way through the loan having made very little impact at the City Ground. Despite his professionalism, the midfielder is tipped for a January exit.
Niclas Fullkrug, the German striker has struggled to justify his place as West Ham’s number 11. Critics argue his performances have been “terrible,” and Nuno has dropped him in favour of Callum Wilson.
Fullkrug has been open about his desire to leave the Hammers in January, and if a club can be found and West Ham’s valuation met he will be departing.
Luis Guilherme, however, still remains a mystery. The 19-year-old Brazilian was briefly handed opportunities, but Nuno’s willingness to rotate him in and out shows he is not guaranteed a future role. His inconsistency saw him sidelined for the Manchester United game and it is clear Nuno has sought more reliable midfield options. Whether a loan or a permanent move away in January happens remains to be seen, yet there are suggestions that it would be in the player’s interest to find another club.
Guido Rodriguez is another player who won’t get first team action and has informed his representatives that he wishes to leave.
Guido Rodriguez has no future, it would seem, under Nuno Espirito Santo
Nuno favours compact, defensively solid systems. Players who don’t fit his pressing or positional demands are finding themselves quickly discarded. Refreshingly, unlike Potter, who stuck with under-performers, Nuno has shown he will bench or drop anyone not delivering results. By sidelining big names, Nuno is sending a message that reputations don’t guarantee minutes. This opens the door for overlooked players and the academy players.
Kante, Earthy, Marshall and Mayers were all on the bench for the Manchester United game last night, with Potts starting.
Dropping high-profile players has asserted his authority, signalling to the squad that commitment and adaptability are non-negotiable.
So far, Nuno’s tenure at West Ham has been defined by ruthless clarity and he is reshaping the squad in his image. If West Ham climb the table, his boldness will be praised. We have been told that he expects to be backed in the transfer window having already identified the type of players who he feels will work well within his tactical system.
For Sundays game versus Brighton, everyone will be second guessing what the starting line up will be – which I and the rest of the C&H team believe is a positive change!
LG is unfortunate in that his best position is also Bowen’s! Also unfortunate is that Nuno, like all recent WH managers, can’t seem to grasp that playing players out of position is counterproductive, Souchek is the prime example, the obvious choice last night to replace Paqueta was George Earthy, but no, he chickened out, and we missed a great opportunity to perhaps win that game. Will he learn for the Brighton game, I doubt it sadly!
Guillerme reminds me of Lanziniiiiiiiiii when he first came to the club he looked lightweight and out of his depth but he acclimatised and got through and this young man needs time i mean the chaos surrounding managers and coaches coming and going cannot be helpful for anyone so Loan him out if we must but selling for me would be an unwise decision.
I like Paqueta but he hangs onto the ball every time looking for a telling pass, he gets closed down, defence have time and the flow of the game is halted. He seems to be in a rut, where he does not pass responsibility for play to another midfielder, but that has all changed now. Fernandes, Potts can all hit passes and are intelligent midfielders. The youngsters keep the ball moving, play each other in and play as a team. P needs to do that too.
He can compete for a starting spot, but not just stroll back in – unless he needs a sabbatical? This midfield deserve to play in the next match (hope to see Kante as well) and the bench looked better too.
Hope Guilherme goes out on loan, or some plan in place for him to develop over the next 2 seasons. He is young, seems to have plenty of talent but definitely immature, in a footballing sense – unlike Potts who is the opposite. Plus there is what Lokfaen mentions and the fact we have had a run of managers who have not helped the youngsters develop and he obviously comes from a different academy setup. If Noble, Cole and others (Robson, Steve Potts) think he has potential, then we should do everything to develop it because he could be a cracking player in 1or 2 seasons time.
The only change on Sunday would be Earthy for soucek
I feel like the biggest problem for Guillerme is he does not trives outside his favored position. Guillerme, like Kudus before him, is a left footed inside forward on the other side of the pitch (remember his cameo in the Liverpool game?).
A winger typically has a stronger outside foot and runs wide for crosses (fullbacks/wingback perform that function in the modern game), whereas inside forwards favours their opposite foot and tries to cut in and shoot; Bowen and Summerville both great examples of this.
Our problem is we keep buying players that favours Bowens position on the pitch, and sho-horn them onto the opposite flanks. That means their movement is always led by their weaker foot, whether cutting inside or trying outside and cross.
This is one of the reasons our left side has been (one of) our achilles heel for so long before Summerville, and when Summerville is injured. You can also see how much better Kudus is playing at Spurs now.
How would Guillerme fare if we played to his strengths?
The team are better under Nuno there’s energy and belief . He should be backed in January
Letting Guilherme if we let him go will be our biggest mistake in years Hes highly rated in Brazil by the coaches there and tipped to be a top international in the near future Then again we are W Ham we know best 🤣
Let’s hope he leaves pac man on the bench. He deserves to be taught a lesson. The team performed well last night , why change it.