It has again been another disappointing 2025/26 Premier League campaign for loyal West Ham United fans but with another change of manager it seems like Nuno Espirito Santo may in fact ultimately be the right man for our Board to finally get behind.
The quietly spoken 51 year old former Portugal B international goalkeeper has got good managerial experience and he knows the English top flight well following spells with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and he even took Nottingham Forest back into European action – however, it seems he does not suffer fools lightly when it comes to club ownership and management and for a number of Hammers fans that obviously points to a potential future problem at the London Stadium.
The fans who like a flutter will certainly be watching the odds on what Nuno’s future may hold on that score, but if he is backed he will have few complaints as it then hinges on how he performs, and he probably would not want it any other way.
His opening four games were not great as we only picked up a single point, but plenty of fans were pleased with what it looked like he was trying to do with the squad when it came to improvements in our levels and our style of play, but naturally everyone knows that will take time and he will obviously want to make changes to the first team group to enable him to play his way in a more successful manner.
With a few players already out of favour, there is the likelihood that there will be a number of changes during the January transfer window and Nuno will be hoping that chairman David Sullivan loosens the purse strings, but the gaffer will certainly be hoping that the rumour mill speculation concerning a move away for midfielder Lucas Paqueta proves to be very wide of the mark.
Naturally, the 28 year old Brazilian international has plenty of suitors in England and the wider European game, and he was very heavily linked with Aston Villa during the summer, but the latest rumblings from the club are that as long as Paqueta does not throw his toys in the New Year, Sullivan will at least consider him unavailable until next summer, given that he still has 18 odd months left on his current contract with a 12 month option on top of that.
Whatever transfer moves Nuno is allowed to make during the window to reshape the squad options more to his liking, Being able to rely on Paqueta will be huge in him continuing to turn our fortunes around as we saw exactly what we might be capable of in last weekend’s confidence boosting 3-1 win over Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United side. Paqueta got us back on level terms in that one with his goal ten minutes before the half time break, but even still in-play betting odds on sites like sport.netbet.co.uk/live-betting/ would have still favoured the Magpies based on our recent form.
For the statto’s, that was the first time we came from behind in a game to win since May 2024, and with us now hoping for back to back victories with Burnley next up, it would be only the second time we have done that since it last happened under David Moyes back in May 2024.
Fans will naturally be hoping that the first three points under our new gaffer is the start of many more to come, but in so many ways it is now over to our Board to give him what he wants and jettison those players that he sees no future in and his recent pivot to youth players like Freddie Potts is possibly the clearest message he could make on that front.
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