By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham somehow managed to turn a 2-0 lead into a 2-2 draw at Burnley in our opening Championship game of the season.
Max Kilman gave the Hammers the lead before debutant Manor Solomon made it 2-0 in the second half, and at that point we appeared to be heading for the perfect start to our league campaign.
Unfortunately, Nuno Espírito Santo did what we’ve seen him do far too many times before.
West Ham Park The Bus
In this video, I discuss how West Ham sat deeper and deeper, effectively parked the bus and invited Burnley to attack us.
Rather than continuing to play and looking for the third goal, we tried to see the game out and eventually paid the price.
Zian Flemming scored twice in the final seven minutes to rescue a point for Burnley, and whilst the manner of the collapse was incredibly frustrating, it’s difficult to argue that the hosts didn’t deserve something from the game.
West Ham scored with our only two shots on target, but for me the biggest frustration was watching us surrender the initiative with a two-goal lead.
This was two points dropped, and Nuno’s decision to sit back is the main focus of my match review.
Pablo was pulled because he felt his calf according to Nuno. And because we won’t pay £20m for a young striker, Nuno had no attacking option to deploy. But even if he had, he would have brought on a midfielder or a defender because that’s how his mind works. He is peeing me right off too Gonzo. Scarles’ tackle attempt was under 11 football. Had he not been so stupid then Burnley would not have got back into it. We need to block crosses at source because our two giant CB’s cannot win a header. Unbelievable. Kretinsky, Nuno and this team are turning me into a moaning minnie and I’m usually a chilled guy. It’s a fine line between love and hate……..
This was inexcusable, Nuno has learnt nothing from last season’s farce at all and we have started where we left off, and if he persists with this “cowardly” approach we will not get promoted. He either needs to be more positive, especially with his in-game mgt or he should be replaced. We cannot afford to be in this league beyond this season.
Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome was Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Perhaps the Board should suggest Nuno sees a shrink!