All good things must come to an end, they say. And the same applies equally to bang average things where you have somehow managed to snaffle points despite competing for only half the game most weeks. On this occasion, West Ham’s nine match unbeaten Championship run coming to an end in an act of self-harm against a not especially impressive Southampton side.
Nuno has often made the point about hours put in on the training ground to fix those parts of our game that haven’t been working well. If we are to believe that, then either he doesn’t see the timid, slow starts to games as a problem, or he has no solution to fix it. This despite every Hammers supporter in the world having identified it as our greatest weakness. Just ahead of archaic formation, players played out of position and team selections based on the manager’s ego rather than in the interests of West Ham United.
The more I see of Nuno, the more I see a man completely unsuited to the task of football management. At least that is how he comes across – fragile ego, poor communicator and limited tactical nous. A coach who is incapable of reading the game and adjusting his approach accordingly.
It is puzzling to look back at his periods of relative success at Wolves and Forest and wonder how that happened. Was it mostly down to luck? The happenstance of the right players coming along at the right time? Shades of Bilic with Payet and Moyes with Rice. To misquote Hanlon’s Razor: Never ascribe to great management that which is adequately explained by good fortune.
When you see other managers on televised games, they are either earnestly studying each pass, move and transition or else living every shot, pass and tackle on the touchline. Then there’s our guy. A man with the look of someone who had been out walking his dog in the park and stopped for a few minutes to watch a game. Only Nuno had managed to lose his spaniel as well.
What other explanation can we put the repeated slow starts down to other than team orders from the management. What is it now, 11 of the 15 league goals conceded coming before the half-time substitutions? It could also be poor preparation and a lack of motivation, I suppose. It is hard to imagine anyone being inspired or motivated by a repetitive Nuno team talk.
Team selection for Saturday had no real surprises. Kyle Walker-Peters came in for the presumably injured Joel Veltman and in a rotation of goal-shy strikers Taty replaced Pablo. Otherwise, it was again the same 4-4-2 formation last seen on Match of the Day circa 2004. Conceived in an emergency during the latter stages of last season’s failed relegation fight, Nuno is stubbornly sticking to it in a one-man campaign to have it recognised as a heritage artifact. Never mind that every other manager has abandoned it, that it creates frequent midfield overloads and that elsewhere coaches have opted for fluidity over rigidity.
The situation is aggravated at West Ham by Nuno’s refusal to play a specialist defensive midfielder. Someone whose brief is to break down attacks and protect a back four who need all the help they can get. Although Alvarez and Magassa might usefully fulfil that role, they are both frozen out by the manager’s obstinacy. Loathe to consider those he has fallen out with. Is it not a dereliction of duty to sideline players for strictly personal reasons?
The demands of the chosen formation similarly limit the effectiveness of the wide players who ideally should be the Hammers primary attacking threat. Asked to do too much work across too much distance, they are regularly required to drop deep in support their fullbacks. I’m yet to be convinced by Solomon but he and Bowen should be doing the lion’s share of their work in the final third.
All three Southampton goals were supported by the Hammer’s generosity with midfield space – and assisted by two of the team’s greatest weaknesses – goalkeeper and central defence. Hermansen is a below average keeper, especially galling when there is better on the bench. Clearly Areola is another who has ended up on the wrong side of gaffer. The central defender partnership of Kilman and Mavropanos has long looked suspect with the former taking most of the responsibility for me. Slow motion through our goals against and invariably you’ll find Max spectating and shrugging his shoulders a safe distance away from the action areas.
West Ham ramped up 28 goal attempts and a staggering (for us) 52 touches in the opposition box on Saturday. It is tempting to conclude that on a different day we might have scored six or seven. Yet very few clear-cut chances were created and there were rarely sufficient numbers in the box ready to capitalise. And when shots hit the target, Peretz comfortably demonstrated what a difference a brave, competent keeper can make.
Inevitably, Nuno was forced to yet again make changes from the bench. The half-time change was unexpected – some might say unnecessary, but Scarles looked OK when he came on – as I’d anticipated the ineffective Taty and Solomon would be the ones hauled off. As one commentator put it, if Taty’s not getting caught offside or committing a foul, you wouldn’t know he was there. His presence meant the energetic high press from the Swansea game did not materialise.
The substitutions became more frantic and difficult to comprehend as the game progressed. By the end there was no discernible pattern or purpose to the Hammer’s play. Just put six up front and hope for the best, even though you’ve already taken off any hope of creativity that existed. I can’t think of any circumstances that would justify Taty, Pablo and Piroe being on the pitch together at the same time.
Away from the real action, what a diabolical refereeing performance that was from Michael Salisbury. It’s difficult to be objective with referees when they are officiating your own side, but his calls were more than head scratching. Typically, there is a negative correlation between ball possession and fouls committed (teams with less possession generally commit more fouls) yet Salisbury penalised the Hammers 16 times to the Saints 7.
The one minor positive from the weekend was clinging on to third place. Although now only two points separate West Ham from the side in ninth place.
However, the fundamental problem is that the managerial situation is hugely frustration. Nuno is not the man for the job. Perhaps he will eventually get us promoted one way or the other – although I have strong doubts that he can. But what is crystal clear is that we would be doomed to failure if he was again at the helm in the Premier League. COYI!
