By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Whilst West Ham’s 4-2 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers certainly grabbed the headlines, there was another story surrounding Nuno Espírito Santo’s team selection which has probably disappeared beneath the fog of victory.
West Ham Academy graduate Lewis Orford was not only absent from the head coach’s starting line-up, but had disappeared from the squad altogether.
Orford has been a surprising success this season.
Having been shoehorned into midfield following the departure of Freddie Potts and the exclusion of Edson Álvarez and Soungoutou Magassa for transfer reasons, Orford has shone.
In fact, it could reasonably be argued that Orford had been West Ham’s best midfielder up until the victory over Wolves.
Nuno’s Team Selection Was Vindicated
Now let’s be perfectly fair here.
The Hammers’ first Championship win totally justified the manager’s team selection. Nobody is suggesting otherwise.
Arne Engels and Divine Mukasa were excellent in midfield as West Ham finally produced the sort of performance we’d been waiting for.
But to see our brightest young prospect and arguably best performer in midfield ditched from the squad altogether was more than a little odd.
Only days earlier I’d argued that Orford didn’t deserve to be dropped against Watford after he had run the show in the Carabao Cup victory over Southampton.
At St Mary’s he completed 59 of 64 passes, produced four key passes and registered two assists.
He had earned his opportunities.
Orford has been brilliant this season
Orford Deserved Better Communication
Worst of all, Orford suffered the ignominy of having to find out that he’d been dropped without any communication from the manager at all.
In fact, the pair hadn’t spoken at all.
It’s not the first time that Nuno Espírito Santo’s man-management skills have been called into question, and one can only hope that Orford finds his way back into the head coach’s reckoning sometime soon.
There is absolutely no argument from me about Tuesday night’s result.
Nuno picked the team and the youngsters who had previously impressed were always going to face increased competition once the squad began filling out.
But leaving Orford out is one thing.
Allowing one of West Ham’s brightest Academy prospects to discover he’d been dropped without speaking to him is quite another.
As for Tuesday night, it did seem an unnecessarily brutal way to treat a player who has arguably been West Ham’s best performer this season.
Engels hasn’t had a good game since he joined us,not one that warrants the highest fee paid by a Championship club. No better than Orford and his set pieces haven’t produced an assist yet compared to Orford. Nuno decided that Pablo was the better choice. Still don’t see him doing enough to again warrant selection. Mukasa was the difference not Engles. A strange win as no player was more than a 7 apart from Mukasa. I think this shows up that the Championship is bang average and a worse league than last year by a mile. Coventry went out an attacked. We have to do the same. This campaign has mirrored Nuno’s from last year. He’s bought time. To turn this WH need to go undefeated and win 2 out of the 3 games next week,if not all of them to convince me that Nuno has changed. I doubt it.
Why did Nuno change the team that beat Southampton
to play watford thats how we got relegated .
Nuno is why I believe morewant to leave than stay for some it’s stature some money BUT I believe with Nuno’s help it made it essier for them He appears to have NO man management AT ALL say what you like about Moyes BUT he knows how to get the best from his team nomatter where he manages they all seem to love him I can’t say I have read the same about Nuno
Totally agreed, but with the single exception of Benrahma, who Moysey used to absolutely slate!
The knee jerk reactions from some fans is hilarious! It’s like reading the funny pages of a tabloid newspaper but with far more wit!
Everyday a load of ‘articles’ are thrown up, some opinion pieces and some factual pieces and some based on what, seem to be at least, unsubstantiated claims and all of a sudden a bunch of ‘fans’ (or reactive wallies in my opinion) are calling for people’s heads. Nuno must lose his job, Bowen should be stripped of his captaincy, players are rubbish and should never play again, the owners are a disgrace (actually, that much is partially true). It’s react react react from some people!! It’s great to read!
Keep it up, folks. Every day it’s a perfect microcosmic example of society as a whole. Just brilliant!
if we go up,it will be nunos good;if not the cry will be sack him(january if were doing poorly).
Im with Ian here. How does Gonzo know there was no communication between the two? A reliable source? With sources like this, who needs enemies. My dog told me Nuno rested Orford ready to rejoin the squad on Saturday. Let’s see who was right.
My question about this article is it is based on unsubstantiated “facts”
1) That Nuno did not have any conversation with Orford
2) That Magassa has now expressed remorse for having angled for a move
C&H was “Moyes out” then it was “Loppy out” then it was “Potter out” now it seems to be “Nuno out”
We all praise the stability of the John Lyall years – maybe the fact that there were no blogs and internet then helped?
COYI
Some people are never happy. Don’t make issues that aren’t there, just for clicks. Orford’s time will come.
So many are so quick to berate Nuno’s man management skills, without having the faintest idea what goes on at the club.
Who are all these players that he has fallen out with? Do you think the likes of Bowen and Mavropanos would have tied their colours to the West Ham mast if Nuno was the disaster that some are trying to make out? Similarly, why would Morato, who has worked with Nuno before, be so keen to resurrect that relationship if Nuno is so bad?
The players who clearly have had an issue with Nuno and West Ham include Todibo, Fullkrug and AWB. All players who have shown no loyalty to the club, teammates or fans – all players that the squad is better off without.
Please stop putting 2 and 2 together and making 5.
No victory fog for me I’m extremely annoyed and want this fool of a coach marched out of the club.
Nuno cannot be Mr elusive he needs to communicate with whole squad regularly.
Probably more so if he’s going to change squad and drop players.
He can’t be on an untouchable perch or hold grudges for indefinite periods.
It’s accepted that squad is a touch light and rotation will be needed.
Whether it’s formation, opposition, injuries, suspension players need to realise they will be dropped for some games..
Not to communicate will cause anxiety not knowing why you’ve been dropped but it’s also rude.
They don’t want to read in the media or receive texts/emails.
Bowen is a worry he will need resting at some point and who will fill his space.
Magassa and Alvarez need to stay they give important depth.
Golambekis & Mayer will not be in the squad this weekend against Derby
Ajaja will be out (if he survives the cull this week) fior the Boltin game
And finally Scarles out of the Wrexham game next week
The five lads will return amd star in a losing defeat to Fulham, and then be blamed and gone until the FA Cup in January
It has been a matter of fact that the kids wont be given a long term run like Lewis’Skelley has had at Arsenal, we have all been calling for a filled out squad with experience.
Nuno has at least given young lads their chance, far more than Loppy Moyes or Potter, but I guess that makes them more valuable like Pottsy …. is that where these 5 are heading next summer ?
At least Moyes played Earthy in the league before Lopetegui binned him and Nuno sold him
I don’t know about you, but I thought Orford was part of the league team that hadn’t won a game.
done ok against Southampton reserves, but he’s a young player who will get better.
The manager is picking a team to try to win games, you or noone knows what goes on day to day at training etc.
only a few days ago,this was meant to be a must win or sacked, managers can’t afford to let youngsters develop, they lose their jobs after 5 games.
If you want academy players to develop,then you’re going to get inconsistent results, you can’t have it both ways.
The evidence to justify sacking Nuno is mounting up and clearly the rumours towards the end of last season about his lack of relationship with all the players gains more credibility with incidents like this. Frankly Nuno is clueless.
As for the win against Wolves there were positives, but also negatives and it was a game where it could have easily finished 5-5 or 2-4. One swallow a summer doesn’t make and I’m still not convinced we won’t revert back to Nervous Nuno ball against Derby
Nuno’s man management skills seem to be limited. He fell out with people at Forest he has fallen out with various players at West Ham. This is not the way to manage the team and particularly not a young player.
Given his tactical flaws of going on the defensive when you have a questionable defence this does not make for long term success.
Nuno has destroyed the squad . He has zero man magement skills and baffles everyone with his lunatic selection choices and idiotic substitutions . He has to go .
How do you know that there was no communication, always looking for the negatves as usual
If this is accurate, it’s another reason for sacking Nuno. Drab football, unusual tactics, questionable substitutions, bad game management, pointless guarded interviews and terrible player management. What does he do well? You might say, he’s that bad he’s diverted much of the chaos from the ownership issues, now that’s a talent!
100% agree with this blog. It’s poor man-management regardless of the result.
My biggest fear now, is Orford’s progression and pathway is blocked by Magassa who made his position clear and is now apologising and regretting it. Not because of a change of heart, but because his position is compromised.
For me Orford has to be ahead in the pecking order, otherwise what’s the point in trying. Long term, I hope Magassa becomes an undroppable asset because he’s just ends up being that good, but right now, based on context and performance, it has to be Orford. Otherwise what’s the point.
Despite the win over Wolves, there are a lot of questions over Nuno’s sometimes strange decision making and constant falling out with players.
Not surprising if the guy has limited communication skills, he’s always going to pee off half the players!!