Nuno Espírito Santo failed to address any questions of real substance in his post-match interview following West Ham United’s humbling defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Hammers boss spoke about apologising to supporters and the need to do better, but realistically he should have been challenged far more robustly on his side’s lack of intensity and his own tactical decisions.
“We should apologise to our fans that travelled, those that are at home and saw a very poor performance.
It was something that nobody expected, but something that has to make us think and reflect the situation that we are in.”
All well and good — but what many supporters really wanted to know was why he appeared to simply sit back and accept a 3–0 defeat. Goal difference has long since ceased to be a concern, so why not roll the dice?
Nuno and his staff appear ed to be frozen to the bench, not making a single substitution in the second half
Substitutions That Never Came
Why were George Earthy and the new £20m striker Pablo left on the bench for so long when a goal was desperately needed? It was bizarre in the extreme that West Ham failed to register a single shot on target against a team who had not won in 19 Premier League matches, yet still refused to play two strikers.
Poor Callum Wilson was left out there for almost 100 minutes despite clearly lacking the legs to last an hour. Quite what Espírito Santo was thinking is anyone’s guess.
As for the lack of intensity and motivation, serious questions also need asking. Why did West Ham look less committed than Wolves in a fixture that was every bit a must-win? Either the manager failed to motivate his players, or they simply were not playing for him. Neither scenario reflects well.
Quite frankly, West Ham fans deserved clear answers rather than the usual football clichés. Instead, they were left watching a manager who sat largely motionless in the dugout during the second half, carrying the look of a man who had already given up — and his team mirrored that demeanour perfectly.
The only conclusion I could think of and I asked exactly the same questions was that he had given up the game at half time and was protecting players from that result.
In theory perhaps he had as bad a day at the office as his team. It is possible and he is not immune from a bad day but he does look like Potter did in that he is running out of ideas what to do with such an unbalanced group of players short on creativity.
Or alternatively his system doesn’t have space for the creativity within his teams.
I happen to think he has done a pretty good job of making us harder to beat but considering the attacking talent he has within the team not good enough at making us win because he gives up momentum in games.
Am not sure there is a manager that will do better than he is but it might be worth rolling the dice with someone that will bring the fun back and get the players focused on winning not trying not to lose.
No 32.
Perhaps a bad day at the office ? Are you for real ? He ran straight down the tunnel not even shaking anyone’shand mnot acknowledging his players or fans. Like he had somewhere to go more urgent, he’s had 13 bad days and another that he got away with as we played Burnley.
As reported he’s fallen out and not even talked to certain players.
Refused to play some who are clearly better than one’s he’s used.
Don’t forget the Brentford and Leeds games,no explanation no admission he got it wrong.
His tenure has been poor from the start,no shots and no fight against Arsenal and Liverpool. To many times he’s caved in. Leeds,Brentford and even Burnley show more fight now Wolves too.
Rob Edwards went to Wolves seeing an opportunity with far lesser a team and squad.
There are countless managers that could motivate this bunch of players,not selecting players totally out of form would help.
It needs to be done now.Before the Forest game.
As tempting as it is, if we sack Nuno now we end up with yet another manager working with players that the previous manager requested. Who can say if our two new strikers suit the system of a new incumbent?
Agree. Rotating mangers won’t help. As someone else posted, can’t polish a turd.
Wilson was run into the ground, no idea why when Pablo was on the bench. I guess one of the two new strikers starts against Forest. It’s not just the team who are lacking Nuno is too.
We could hardly be blowing out more if we tried…
The commentator on radio London was amazed that Nuno just stood or sat motionless, the commentator remarked that he should of at least had the decency to be on the sidelines ranting and waving or something, I agree Nuno is lightweight when it comes to motivating the players, that’s our trouble no frontline general.we could assemble all the best players in Christendom , Nuno couldn’t lead them , neither could Bowen come to that?
Should imagine Pablo was booking a flight back to Portugal
“Nuno and his staff appear ed to be frozen to the bench, not making a single substitution in the second half”
Actually, Tomas Soucek and Ezra Mayers came on in the second half. However I think it’s rather poignant to see that photo of Nuno and his three wise men sitting on the bench seemingly in shock.
Numo needed to change shape after the first goal . He didn’t !!
At half time he moved to a back 3 and the shape of the team looked better …..( Mayers I thought looked like a young Nathan Ake and was excellent !
But why keep walker peters ( who by the way is a championship player ) and Scarles on the pitch as wing backs ?
Why not play Summerville on the left and earthy or Bowen on the right as the wing backs / wingers
He should have also bought on Paublo to play then 2 up front ….
At 3-0 down we would have had a go …. ( yes it would have been 4 or even 5 subs ) but it was needed …
Constantly in the second half the ball was with either Scarles ( who is not a wing back) or walker peters ( who doesn’t have enough quality ) …. Neither had the quality to do anything as they are defenders !!
Imagine if Summerville or Bowen or Earthy had been in those positions ….
I’ve long accepted Numo is not a tactical manager and dithers over his substitutions ….
I saw it first hand away to Bournemouth ( I had a seat almost right behind the subs bench ) where he had Magassa all ready to come on ,and then waited for at least 5 mins before changing his mind …..
His previous club are in a mess too !!
Numo plays one way only and that’s why he only lasted 12 or so games at the spuds !
I never liked Leavy but to his credit head he was very decisive in sacking Numo ….
Sullivan needs to do the same …..
So who do we bring in ?
Well it’s long forgotten Gary O’Neil took over from Scott Parker at Bournemouth after they had just been beaten .9-0 by Liverpool … He kept a championship team in the Premier league that year ….. ( and was then sacked end of season )
Parker had said that team were not good enough for the premiership and would go down ! O’Neil kept them up comfortably !!
he’s tactical and his previous teams scored goals ….
No brainer !!
Why’s Nino embarrassed, unlike me he’s not the one going to work Monday in a factory full of Spurs supporters. Get a backbone, teach the team to close down and tackle. Our centre backs are scared of the ball. Stick Soucek in the back line as at least he is prepared to put his body on the line to block a shot and not turn his back like Mav. Instead of looking for defenders who can bring the ball out from the back, get in some warriors up for a fight like James Collins and Dicksy were.
If the manager has given up then by proxy so has the team. Get rid of the negative demeanour or replace and while you’re there somebody slip some night night juice in sullys horlicks and end this misery once and for all.