Trust Wavers: A Dreadful Start for Nuno
I ended my October piece by saying: ‘In Nuno, we have to now trust’ because, as supporters, we have to try and trust the manager. But it is fair to say that it has been a dreadful start for Nuno. Three defeats and a draw and the trust is wavering. There was some degree of hope in his opening game in charge against Everton. We were fairly solid and compact. Konstantinos Mavropanos played well as he did at Arsenal in the next game. Soungoutou Magassa came into midfield and he gave the team some energy, which enabled us to progress up the pitch. A draw in the first game was something to build on. Arsenal away: Attack vs defence. We were not expected to get a result and we did not disgrace ourselves, ending in a 2-0 defeat.
Tactical Chaos: Baffling Line-ups vs. Brentford & Leeds
Two games in quick succession followed. Firstly, at home to Brentford, live on Sky, which also coincided with the boycott. Supporters at the London Stadium or at home would have been scratching their heads at the starting line-up. Jean-Clair Todibo selected, replacing Mavropanos. Clearly, Nuno is not 100% sure on his centre-back partnership. Andy Irving accompanied Tomas Soucek in midfield, therefore no pace or energy. Lucas Paqueta as the false nine with Callum Wilson once again sitting on the bench, the position he stayed in for the rest of the evening. Even more baffling was that Kyle Walker-Peters – a right-back – was playing at left-back and Ollie Scarles – a left-back – was playing at right-back. This is known as ‘inverted full-backs’ in the modern game. In this instance, trying to make us more compact. However, this did not stop crosses coming into the box, which we cannot defend. Cross after cross came into our box and a long ball through the middle was all it took to unsettle our two centre-backs and we went 1-0 down. Our midfield pairing of Soucek and Irving could not get close to their midfielders, who had so much time and space on the ball. Things did not improve in the second-half and a second goal late on sealed all three points for Brentford. You would hope when assessing the game against Brentford, the manager would go back to basics and not change to the extent he did in the previous game. Think again! Ollie Scarles once again played at right-back and was caught out for the first goal and Aaron Wan-Bissaka – last season’s Hammer of the Year at right-back – playing left-back with Diouf playing slightly ahead. An Irving and Soucek pairing once again playing and Summerville playing on the right-hand side of midfield. The ‘experiment’ once again failed to work: 2-0 down after just 15 minutes. Both goals conceded from crosses, one was a corner. Some improvement was seen in the second-half with the shape changing albeit the players still looked disjointed and we managed to pull a goal back from Mateus Fernandes. In terms of the result, performance, selection and formation, Nuno unfortunately got it very, very wrong in both games.
Regression: The Damning Data vs. Graham Potter
This leads onto comparing West Ham under Graham Potter and Nuno Espirito Santo. During Potter’s early 2025–26 start, our attacking numbers were weak: we registered an Expected Goals (xG) of 1.05 per game under Potter in the opening matches of the season. Defensively, we were conceding high-quality chances: we had the highest “xG per shot faced” in the Premier League early in the season at 0.16 under Potter. In the previous full season (2024–25) under the previous regime, we recorded about 1.40 xGF per game, but the ranking was very low (17th) in attacking metrics. On the defensive side, we conceded something like 1.66 Expected Goals Against (xGA) per game in that season. In short: under Potter the signs were of an attack that was blunt (low xGF) and defence that was vulnerable (high xGA and high xG per shot faced). After Potter’s departure, Nuno’s first match in charge (1-1 vs Everton) saw us register 1.19 xG for and 0.73 xG against. However, across the season so far, the aggregate data remains poor: Nine matches shows xG For 6.9, xG Against 13.3 per 90 minutes. So, while there may have been a “better” single game under Nuno, the underlying season snapshot still shows us being out-shot and out-chanced significantly. In conclusion, the data suggests that, despite some signs of potential improvement under Nuno, overall, there is no clear evidence yet of a stable improvement in either attacking threat or defensive stability. The defence continues to leak chances, and goals, and the attack is not creating or taking chances.
The Path Forward: Energy and a Striker
Ultimately what I have witnessed so far under Nuno is a team that is being set up incorrectly from a formation and personnel perspective. Nuno is trying to change what has gone before; however, I actually think we have regressed. The team needs energy in the middle of the pitch. Teams are just walking through us repeatedly. Our midfield pairing are not protecting the defence and are unable to carry the ball forwards at pace to transition into attack. We also need a recognised striker leading the line. We cannot sit as deep as we do as a team because we are so vulnerable defensively and are conceding so many chances and corners. Looking at the fixture list, in the next eight games, perhaps Burnley, Aston Villa and Brighton are games that we can secure some points on the board. The other games are going to be very tough. At this stage, it does not matter where the points come from: Home or away. We just need points on the board quickly. Nuno and the players need to give the supporters some hope that we can avoid relegation come May 2026.
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