West Ham United boss Nuno Espírito Santo has finally addressed the elephant in the room — the dramatic energy drop-off that saw his side surrender a 2–0 lead against Chelsea.
It was obvious from the moment Chelsea scored their first goal at Stamford Bridge. Workaholic forward Pablo had emptied the tank and was powerless to close down the opposition. Fatigue crept in, the high press disappeared, and West Ham were forced deeper and deeper.
From there, Nuno had little choice but to make changes.
Unfortunately, those alterations failed. The Hammers conceded twice more, finishing the game with a knackered side completely devoid of energy.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s massive clash with Burnley, Espírito Santo admitted exactly what everyone in claret and blue could already see.
“We spent a lot of energy pressing high in the game, and playing so well offensively, and after about 55–60 minutes we felt that energy getting away.
We tried to rebalance the team with an extra body and it didn’t work out, so the challenge is to keep the standards throughout the whole match.”
A System Without the Players
That is a difficult task when your system relies on two forwards running themselves into the ground.
Nuno’s shift to a 4-4-2 demands relentless pressing from the front — but West Ham simply do not have the depth to sustain it. With just days having passed since the transfer window closed, the manager is already facing the reality of trying to solve his striker shortage from within.
It only reinforces what many feared throughout January: West Ham should have signed more forwards.
Now, instead of rotating fresh legs, Nuno may be forced into making tactical changes around the hour mark every single game — not because he wants to, but because his players physically cannot keep going.
On the whole I’m a fan of Nuno but needs to get creative here. Players like Magassa and Potts not being used. Start 1 in midfield and then you can bring on Soucek as an impact player. Walker Peters also being under utilised and has a great engine on him. Needs to think outside the box a bit more. As said already, Marshall should have stayed and be coming off the bench.
It’s a shame that high energy and high pressing Callum Marshal was loaned out . With the players available now , Pablo subbed once tired and replaced by Traore as CF against a high line would allow Traore space to run straight at the opposition goal ( Man City V Wolves some years ago 2 goals Traore ) .
Gonzo, why not have 2 forward thinking under 21’s on the bench, bring them on with 30 minutes left tell them their main task is closing down from the front. It gives the young players time on the pitch and they will be able to see the speed of the premiership first hand. There is however the problem that we let the best forward in the club who could play this role out on loan.
Ok , obviously from all the comments I read , suddenly everyone is talking as if we had a chance to beat Chelsea. Remember they hammered us 5-1 at home and made a mockery of us. For me even if we lost we can leave with our heads up high because we could have crucified Chelsea and won from the missing chances we had. It don’t matter what is our possession or how many shots on target, what matters how many become goals. As for Kilman finally the fans found out that he is useless and not worth £40 million .. where I saw it after lopetigue bringing him in, everyone was praising him and crucifying Mavropannos… and look this season it’s the complete opposite. I am glad that now Kilman has been exposed and let’s hope I don’t see him next season
What always makes me laugh about football is nobody ever asks why some teams can run all day long, as if the are powered by Duracell batteries and others can’t?
We should study the teams who show these high energy levels and if their methods are appropriate and legal, apply them.
The bench appears to offer a false impression as number of academy players are never used.
Good appearance but if U21’s have games coming up they are only there to make up numbers.
With academy players where does priority begin U21’s or main squad?
Nuno was still juggling with system whilst transfer period was running.
Requiring extra 2 strikers is hindsight due to finding a system which works.
Sullivan didn’t buy 2 defenders which were known to be a necessity no way would extra strikers
have been bought.
Mistake was sending Marshall and Earthy out on loan.
Bad enough having Wilson unable to do 90 minutes without 50% of team joining him.
Bad move shrinking squad injuries/suspensions will crucify any formation plans.
Usual whu no foresight.
I could also be as simple as Taty and Terrier Pablo still need a few more games building up their fitness to compete in the high intensity of the Premier League, remember they have only been with us what 4 or 5 weeks now. COYI
Callum marshall could have donetba job
Once the forwards are spent bring on Traore and Lamadrid to do the same job. No pressure to score just empty the tank so that Bowen and Summerville can still have space to attack. Also add younger legs to the midfield. It’s not rocket science is it?
You’ve got it so right there, Morty. Great shout.
Or Nuno. Doh ! Get the team fit !!!!
The answer is surprisingly simple, take care of the ball better when we have it and hold onto possession then the players don’t have to chase. It also makes clear Nuno letting Marshall who is a terrier go out on loan was a mistake, am not sure what he can do with that with the skeleton squad he has, maybe get players from the u23’s in or start with Magassa or Potts and bring Soucek in as a CF later in games.
Our opponents will exploit this weakness unless he fixes it, as he said no team can keep that intensity for 90 minutes, the good teams blend it with possession to manage the load.
As others have said, this is nonsense. How many forwards should we have signed? We have 3. The issue was a massive tactical blunder again by the manager bringing on the hapless Kilman and leaving the fresh legs of Magassa, Kanté and Potts on the bench. He made a absolutely criminal sub by bringing Kilman on and a massive error leaving an absolutely knackard Soucek on.
well said!
Perhaps Nuno should take a close look at his substitutions and tactics . . Bringing on Kilman and leaving Maggassa and Potts on the bench was suicide and funelling back and trying to protect a lead with our terrible defensive record is insanity .18 points lost from these tactice so far I believe ??
Another option could be to take Pablo off when tiring and move Jarrod into that role as he has the legs to press and recover and pop Traore right. Then swap Tomas out for Potts or Magassa.
Just another excuse. Fair enough it was hard to compete with Chelsea’s real first team substitutions but surely Nuno has been head coach long enough to know which players and formation he has at his disposal to properly manage the game. It’s not as if his second half tactical substitutions haven’t failed before! What is it, 15 points now lost from winning positions? It’s all wearing a bit thin. And with his golden boy Arnold Schwartzenegger literally trying to throw players out of the way and starting a brawl, it descended into an embarrassing chaos. So much for his ‘help’.
Should have switched Potts for Pablo. Killman is just a liability. Potts could have keept up the high press. Just my humble opinion.
Or maybe use someone like Magassa or Kante to do the same job as Pablo? So no need of a tactical change? or is that too obvious?
The obvious choice was to switch to 4-5-1, bringing on Potts for Pablo. Soucek was tiring as well, so Magassa could’ve come on for him too. We needed to crowd Chelsea out in the middle of the park and try to get a foothold on the game again.
For the manager to bring on a defender in Kilman, yet again, who’s badly out of form and has zero confidence, and switch to a back 3 (which was effectively a 5 due to the Chelsea onslaught) tells me that this manager doesn’t know what he’s doing.
I cannot see how we can stay up when we have a manager who shoots himself in the foot so often and throws away points from winning positions by making bizarre and negative in-game substitutions and tactical alterations.
He never seems to learn from these mistakes.
Disagree with this completely. These are professional footballers being asked to give their all once every 7 days. To suggest they are spent by the hour mark is utterly ridiculous. This was a tactical error that resulted in us sitting deeper and deeper allowing Chelsea all the time in the world to pick us off with cross after cross and the inevitable happened because we are not good enough defensively – end of!
100%, they have no treats from our half.
And to echo C&H – to boost energy at some stage we need Potts / Magassa instead of Soucek
Absolutely, that midfield against Chelsea was crying out for young legs
Mags, is more of a treat, Potts more of a holder.
Maybe the solution is to start Callum Wilson and bring on a fresh Pablo at halftime
No crash-bang from Wilson, though, Zahama. We might be two goals behind at half time with this comfortable option.
Agree, and don’t go on the back foot, when leading, we have not stopped the Opponents from scoring, when we start defending, rotate the press with Summer & Bowy.
Agree, and don’t go on the back foot, when leading, we have not stopped the Opponents from scoring, when we start defending, rotate the press with Summer & Bowy.