West Ham fans will ask themselves, critically, is there any improvement from the previous two games this season? Nuno Espírito Santo has had time with his group of players, yet the Hammers clearly struggled to impose themselves on their opponents for the third game in succession.
The Hammers on paper have a team that should have been able to get the job done at Vicarage Road and yet it seems they play most of the game with the handbrake on. Slow, safe passing, few risks and too many touches and too little pacy play against a side quite happy to sit back and then hit them on the break.
Having been a huge Mads Hermansen fan, I now find myself, later than most, admittedly, starting to wonder. The Dane was lobbed this afternoon in a way that you couldn’t consider feasible if Areola was between the sticks. For all Mads’ excellent distribution with quick feet, if he can’t reach the ball (he’s the same height as Jordan Pickford by the way..) then something needs to change.
Airidas Golambeckis could yet save West Ham fortune in the transfer market. We’ve seen youngsters have amazing debuts and then disappear (Freddie Potts…) but the eighteen year old looked completely at home alongside Max Kilman this afternoon and strolled around with a reassuring stature for one so young and put some in brilliant blocks and interceptions when needed.
Brilliant debutant Golambeckis
And West Ham need to bring back the fighting spirit of assistant manager Paco Jemez: The Spaniard was responsible for West Ham’s big upturn in form and Nuno simply isn’t cutting it three games in. Cautious, infuriatingly so, with a group of players that should easily have been able to overwhelm Watford yet played the first half looking as if they had been told to play safety first, pedestrian, low risk football.
Anyone at West Ham who bothered to watch the Birmingham v Middlesboro game would be terrified seeng the pace and ferocity with which those two sides attacked each other.
It is infuriating to watch this team underperform: I can’t imagine how it feels for Bowen or Solomon to put in the miles and yet find the performance is dour, fearful and unadventurous. All that does is land West Ham with NINETEENTH position in the league. Alarm bells ringing yet?
One thing we do need is a target man so we can play a different way out occasionally. If we play the long ball our light weight forwards get bullied out of it so it’s always pass out from the back. No disrespect to the gorward line we have they are just not that type of player. So we play out from the back every time and the opposition knows whats coming. Chris Wood anyone?
I’m more in the camp that thinks we can still come good under Nuno, but there again if we want automatic promotion we have to start picking up wins soon. Tuesday is a big one for me, home to Wolves. If we win that then it should calm the nerves and give us confidence, but if we don’t and it’s a bad performance I will start to lose confidence that he can turn it around quickly. The transfer window will have closed so it is all about getting the most out of what should be the best squad in the division. Time to prove his worth or time for a change.
Nuno joined 5 games in last season. So he had practically the whole of last season. Managed to improve the side from 19th to 18th place. Shocking & inexcusable that he wasn’t fired in the Summer. Carabo cup wins are meaningless. Sack him now and get Kieran McKenna in before another club snaps him up.
Jim,ludicrous
We gave Nuno all but 5 games last season and now win less in the Championship against none of the teams that will finish in the top 8. His boring negative football won’t change. Poor subs and none of the best players upfront or in midfield from our win against Southampton. Orford and Piroe should have started. Engles and KAnte are not our best midfield 2.
Trying to keep the expensive but proven Areola now sounds more rather reasonable, also given the few days that remain in this transfer window to find an adequate replacement.
I don’t know what 11 days are going to tell us that we don’t already know when we just dropped 7 points out of 9 against three teams we should have easily beaten. Some on here say Nuno is a top manager. True he is paid like he is one but how can someone claiming to be one of the best not only throw away PL status as he did but then struggle and lack confidence in the Championship. It’s a joke. For me, Bowen has lost the plot as well. I expect so much more than he is giving. Just because he occasionally does what was once second nature, does not mean he is playing well. He gives the ball away far too often and he is a yard slower and very predictable. There are enough good players there for Nuno to work with now, if only he knew how.
Nuno needs to go for all the reasons stated and more. Not sure that Hermansen should be dropped amd Arreola’s distribution is shocking and often gifts the opposition a goal.
The takeaway is that we are not good enough even at Championship level. That is how low Mr Sullivan has sunk us.
Thanks Martin for doing these articles after the game – it is difficult after another disappointing result
Undoubtedly Nuno is under pressure and will remain so until we string together a sequence of wins
However IMHO until the boardroom issues are resolved I don’t see us changing managers
I also liked Paco Jemez – but now Nuno has his longtime sidekick around I don’t see him coming back
Tough days indeed to be a West Ham fan
COYI
Nuno needs to go. No point waiting until 10 games in and we’re well off the pace.
Nothingi is going to change and he seems totally dead behind the eyes.
He seems totally dead between the ears too! 🤣
No alarm bells ringing for me. We are still finding our feet in this difficult league. Today was a decent away point. The Watford goal flicked up off Veltman, so I’m not sure why Mads is getting criticised.
Precisely.
I think Nuno got rid of Paco because he’s frightened of how good he was showing Nuno up. We need to get him even if that means Nuno going almost bottom of the league won’t be long before we are. We will be in the same boat as last year fighting relagation. So many young players with energy sat on the bench maybe if Nuno put his glasses on he could see what’s needed.
Let’s see where we are in 11 days, 4 games where we should win 3 of them
Can’t you say that about the first 3 games ? Didn’t win ANY of them !
Jim, can’t you say that about the first 3 games ? Didn’t win ANY of them !