At Wolves, long-standing issues centred around poor communication with players outside his core group.
Looking at the squad during Nuno’s time at Molineux, striker Patrick Cutrone was repeatedly loaned out and later said he felt “abandoned,” never receiving a clear explanation for his exclusion.
Ryan Bennett went from regular starter to completely frozen out before joining Leicester City. Léo Bonatini and Bruno Jordão vanished from match-day squads for extended periods. Meritan Shabani, when fit, was unused — although he did suffer some serious injuries, reports suggest Nuno barely spoke to him.
Nuno’s short spell at Tottenham showed similar traits. Dele Alli was dropped entirely, and Harry Winks publicly admitted he had no idea why he wasn’t being selected.
At Nottingham Forest, in fairness, Nuno expressed that a 30-man squad was too large, yet the club still experienced significant internal fractures.
Familiar Faces, Familiar Fractures
Club captain Joe Worrall was excluded from squads altogether — although he spoke highly of Nuno — while Scott McKenna was dropped and deemed surplus to requirements.
At West Ham, despite the club’s previous lack of strikers, Callum Wilson was often underused by Nuno, and he has since asked to leave. Our source has said the club, however, wish for him to stay until the two new strikers settle. James Ward‑Prowse, the vice-captain, was removed from the squad immediately upon Nuno’s arrival. During West Ham’s defeat to Brentford, co-commentator Danny Murphy remarked, “It sounds a bit more than football, doesn’t it,” hinting at a deeper breakdown. Ward-Prowse has not even made the substitute bench in any of Nuno’s squads.
Across all these clubs, the same pattern emerges. Nuno leans heavily on a small, trusted core, while fringe players often receive minimal communication. That silence can potentially breed frustration and resentment. When results dip, instead of experimenting, he tends to narrow the squad further, trust fewer players, and double down on structure. It’s not malicious — it’s simply how he manages.
Nuno’s introverted, controlled style means he gravitates toward quiet, compliant personalities. That preference exposes a different issue at West Ham — a shortage of strong, vocal leaders.
Players like Worrall at Forest and Cutrone at Wolves are expressive, emotional, and outspoken — they were dropped.
No one would complain if this approach led to results. But it hasn’t — with the Portuguese manager on course to be the worst in West Ham’s history, and relegation looking likely.
Some one should tell him to win a game you need to get your team to play in the other teams half, if you dont get in the other teams half , the most you can hope for is a 0-0, AND WITH OUR DEFENCE THATS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
we are supposed to be a counter attacking team, only most of the time it takes us about 10 passes to get foreward, then we get in the other teams half, 2 passes later and its back to our goalkeeper.
I don’t understand this thing of a manager not speaking to his players – I was shocked when I read that Moyes didn’t speak to Alex Kral when he was with us on loan
I would have thought that in tough situations communication would be key
COYI – lets talk!
Personally I can’t see a problem with this kind of management you could also look at it a different way and say he’s a natural at spotting the real talent because none of the players he ostracised have proven him wrong and played at that level with success again everyone wanted jwp out so he really can’t be faulted there either and the results will come given time which he had at wolves and to an extent Notts forest no time given by spurs but then again they are hardly setting the world alight finishing below us last season and despite all the doom merchants on here they may again this season it’s not over yet the two new attackers look to be different class to anything fullkrug showed I also have to agree I don’t think Marshall is ready yet so come on get behind the team and look for the positives not the negatives
If you look at his record at Forest, wolves and even Spurs, he has had a far greater win % than with us. I wonder what the real issue is….
Noting as your article states that worall rated him despite not playing . There is obviously a deeper issue with JWP which we can’t judge as we don’t enough about it. As for Wilson it’s probably more of a contract issue- if he doesn’t play he doesn’t earn.
The whole point of a manager is to manage the squad, not just his core players. That was one thing about Moyes, he encouraged the camaraderie and team spirit which was there in abundance. He has to get them motivated and involved, all members including JWP and Wilson. Just creates a bad atmosphere otherwise which breeds poor discipline and resentment. If he is that isolated then he shouldn’t be a football manager.
Very interesting observations there, thanks Matt Kemp. Despite Areola speaking out about something he didn’t agree with (I believe) he still get’s selected despite his poor high ball control, even with Fabianski and Hermanson available. I wonder if Nuno will get his wish for a new goalkeeper?
Matt the players. Are still not playing the way they can . Fed up with the narrative , the same players expressed similar discontent with loopy and Potter. Maybe some hard work from them might help maybe some discipline is needed. Same results same players expressed similar, they are paid by the club to perform not give up .
Really interesting piece, though it does sound like if we did have any strong vocal leaders Nuno’s preference would be to exclude them.
What an absolute nightmare situation we find ourselves in (and yes, i’m aware that’s the most open secret in our history!). Every aspect of our club, it could be argued, needs to be changed, like, EVERY aspect. It wouldn’t surprise me if the tea ladies (or gentlemen of course) are using Typhoo instead of Yorkshire. The training ground, the stadium, the captaincy, the manager, the owners, the way the club is run, the finance, the commercial side, the squad, the recruitment, the away kit, the ticketing situation, the vocality of the fans at home matches, i mean, EVERYTHING, it could be argued, could be different and therefore possibly better.
I have to say, and i know i know there’ll be plenty who think i’m borderline insane, but i actually still don’t put ALL of the blame on the owners. There are arguments for and against all of the areas of the club that i mentioned above (apart from the tea, i mean, if they ARE using Typhoo someone needs to be put in their place and pronto) and i’ll happily debate them with anyone. But in my 48 years or supporting West Ham i’ve never felt that the club is in such a mess as it is now. And yes, i remember the Bond scheme and the Icelandic’s and Noble grappling with a fan on the pitch and the Tevez/Mascherano situation and Joey Beauchamp and Boogers and Raducioiu and Unsworth and all of the other nonsense but this just feels all encompassing and utterly devoid of any positivity whatsoever.
Although i’m generally a glass-half-full person, everything about our club feels utterly desperate and very sad and i see nothing but negativity for the foreseeable future….. (but i do think we’re going to draw against Spurs in the next league game).