{"id":387464,"date":"2026-01-04T14:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/387464\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T14:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:27:10","slug":"its-not-working-for-west-ham-with-nuno-espirito-santo-but-hes-not-their-only-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/387464\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not working for West Ham with Nuno Espirito Santo, but he\u2019s not their only problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

It started with a sucker punch. Then came another, before a third blow that left West Ham United head coach Nuno Espirito Santo reeling and only sporadically rising from his seat in the dugout as he watched his side capitulate.<\/p>\n

The only thing missing from West Ham\u2019s bench on Saturday was a white towel to throw in surrender during Saturday\u2019s 3-0 defeat by last-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers<\/a>. Goals in the space of 37 minutes from Jhon Arias, Hwang Hee-chan and Mateus Mane sealed Wolves\u2019 first win, and clean sheet, of this Premier League season.<\/p>\n

West Ham have conceded 41 goals in the league in the campaign so far, the highest total in the division and their most after 20 games in a top-flight season since 44 in 1965-66. Even with Rob Edwards\u2019 home side propping up the league and already near-certainties for relegation at 12 points from safety, they showed more fight and desire than their guests from east London.<\/p>\n

Two of Wolves\u2019 three victories in all competitions this season have come against West Ham, including a Carabao Cup tie back in August. It is why the home fans chorused, \u201cCan we play you every week?\u201d yesterday.<\/p>\n

In this chastening encounter, West Ham were as disinterested, disjointed and toothless as in their previous defeat against Fulham last weekend. Forget a glove, they failed to lay a feather on their opponents, not even registering a shot on target against the weakest team in the top flight. You felt Nuno\u2019s players might have produced more sweat jogging off the pitch at the end than over the duration of the match itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

West Ham have not won a league game since beating Burnley in November and now host fellow relegation candidates Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night. Frustration and anger gripped the away enclosure yesterday as Tomas Soucek, Ollie Scarles, Kyle Walker-Peters and Crysencio Summerville looked on. As for Nuno, after the final whistle, the head coach forlornly walked down the tunnel, failing to commit to his usual away tradition of applauding the travelling supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things went wrong today,\u201d the former Wolves boss admitted in the post-match interview about his current team\u2019s display. \u201cWe started the game badly, we made mistakes, we conceded, and we didn\u2019t react. It was a very poor performance. I have to apologise to the fans. I have to apologise. We have to apologise to the fans. Those that travelled today, (our performance) was embarrassing. There\u2019s not much I can say other than we are sorry. We are sorry, because what we showed today was not good enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I didn\u2019t expect this performance. We have recently been playing good \u2014 not achieving results, but always being in the game. Today was the worst performance that we\u2019ve had. We needed much more from our players. The way we started and the way we performed was very poor. It was embarrassing. I don\u2019t recall a day that I\u2019ve felt so bad on a football pitch like today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n West Ham have not won a Premier League game since November 8 (Michael Regan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Since succeeding Graham Potter in late September, Nuno has overseen just two wins in 15 league games, losing eight times.<\/p>\n

In West Ham\u2019s past three-and-a-half months, there have been left-backs playing as right-backs, right-backs playing as left-backs, a reluctance to field a striker in defeats by Brentford and Leeds United, the inclusion of periphery figure Guido Rodriguez in the 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, no new manager bounce, more apologies than wins, the frequent selection of out-of-form defender Maximilian Kilman and an acceleration of angst over the club\u2019s sharp and seemingly inexorable decline.<\/p>\n

Nuno, who was unable to bring his trusted backroom team with him from previous employers Forest when he replaced Potter, is already facing questions about his future three-and-a-half months into a three-year contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s not about my future, it\u2019s about how can we get out of this situation,\u201d he added. \u201c\u2018How can we improve and get the results that will make us climb the table?\u2019 This is what we are concerned about. Now is the moment to reflect, to think, to speak among ourselves and see if we are strong enough to solve it. Of course (we have the desire and determination), of course we have. But we need to change many things. It\u2019s not about words. Today is a tough day for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nuno\u2019s impassioned plea felt as impactful as his team\u2019s attack, but he is not the sole cause of West Ham\u2019s current plight.<\/p>\n

If the hierarchy opt to make another managerial change now, the rest of the club will remain the same. There were chants of \u201cSack the board\u201d in the 16th minute against Wolves, and last week a photo of a banner hung on the gates of majority shareholder David Sullivan\u2019s house was uploaded on social media, urging the 76-year-old to sell up. There have also been boycotts and fan protests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n West Ham fans react to their side\u2019s capitulation at Wolves (Carl Recine\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Dejection among the fanbase is heightened by the club\u2019s apparent inability to make correct decisions.<\/p>\n

Tim Steidten was sacked as technical director in February due to his poor recruitment and was banned from the training ground by successive managers\/head coaches in David Moyes and Julen Lopetegui \u2014 while the scattergun approach of hiring and firing managers has quickened West Ham\u2019s potential demotion to the Championship for the first time since 2010-11. It will be four leaders in 12 months if the hierarchy decide Nuno\u2019s time is up in the wake of this latest defeat.<\/p>\n

But there is a recurring theme with West Ham\u2019s appointments.<\/p>\n

They courted Lopetegui before announcing Moyes\u2019 contract would not be renewed. Ruben Amorim, now head coach of Manchester United, was invited over from Portugal to London for a chat. Lopetegui was jettisoned after 22 games, but not before successor Potter was pictured chatting with Steidten in a hotel foyer. Potter then suffered the same fate as Nuno was photographed at Lot 14, a restaurant near Sullivan\u2019s house. Nuno was hired ahead of a return for Slaven Bilic, who managed West Ham between 2015-17. The Croatian would be interested in the role if it becomes available again.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the current mess will only ease once West Ham learn how to win again.<\/p>\n

Before kick-off on Saturday, there was an added incentive with Forest losing 3-1 at Aston Villa in the early game. That hope lasted just four minutes before Arias scored the hosts\u2019 opener. It was the first time in 12 league games that Wolves had even taken the lead, the third longest run the 33-year Premier League era has ever seen.<\/p>\n

To add to West Ham\u2019s woes, the Molineux faithful chanted, \u201cYou\u2019re nothing special, we\u2019ll see you next year\u201d, suggesting both these teams are bound for relegation in May.<\/p>\n

They could well be right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It started with a sucker punch. Then came another, before a third blow that left West Ham United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1084,403,99,8323],"class_list":{"0":"post-387464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-premier-league","9":"tag-soccer","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-west-ham-united"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}