When Nuno Espírito Santo was appointed as Forest boss, I was skeptical, as were other fans. He’d come to us from the Saudi League after his less than spectacular time at Spurs.
His time at Forest is definitely a success. To overachieve how he did with a team tipped firmly for relegation was brilliant, despite how it ended towards the end. He got a lot of sympathy having to deal with a points deduction and somehow still managed to keep us up, notably beating Liverpool away for the first time in 55 years.
What he inherited at Forest was a car crash: we couldn’t defend, had no consistency, and were terrible at set pieces. Sound familiar? He massively improved us in his only full season with us.
The Nuno Blueprint: Defend First, Counter Second
Nuno’s system quickly became clear. We were often picking 9/10 of the same players for league games. Our back five were extremely solid and our counter-attack was often devastating.
Nuno likes to defend first, attack on the counter. His approach is generally cautious, structured, and focused on team organisation over flair. We often played 4-2-3-1 and changed to a 3-4-3/5-2-3 when holding a lead. Trapping teams in certain areas of the pitch to create turnovers worked really well for us.
Players that improved significantly were Neco Williams, Chris Wood (who will hopefully become your new Fullkrug), and Anthony Elanga.
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The Achilles’ Heel: Stubbornness and Depth
The football was fun to watch at times because we could be like the Red Arrows on the counter, but when teams gave us the ball, it was difficult. We didn’t know what to do with the ball. Nuno’s inability to adjust to a possession-based game was our downfall towards the end of last season and cost us Champions League football.
Another key issue is his stubbornness. We bottled Champions League qualification because we didn’t have the depth, nor did Nuno trust it. Arguably, he should have used more squad players towards the end as our depth was needed, but Nuno didn’t trust it. Game management is very good but Nuno can be stubborn if he doesn’t trust the depth.
West Ham’s Future Under Nuno
I think it’s similar with West Ham. You desperately need that defensive stability. You have great forward players like Summerville, Bowen, and Paqueta to hurt any team on the break. They should thrive in this system.
The team will become organised and hard to beat. You won’t be making five to six hundred passes a game and will get the ball forward quickly. You will get results and become a tough team to break down.
However, the issue will be that everyone knows how Nuno wants to play and it’s whether he’s willing to adapt when teams sit deep.
In my honest opinion, he never seemed like the long-term solution at Forest because his football wasn’t sustainable. He can succeed with West Ham’s current squad and expectations, but be patient, be optimistic, and accept that the football isn’t built for a long-term evolution.
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