Saturday’s London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham is one of those rare occasions when both sides may prefer to be playing away from home.
With 55,000 anxious Spurs fans quick to get on the players’ backs, Thomas Frank is likely to feel under more immediate pressure than his opposite number Nuno Espirito Santo on Saturday, but looking at the bigger picture, West Ham’s position is far more perilous.
West Ham have barely looked comfortable in almost 10 years at the London Stadium and more protests against the ownership are planned when Sunderland visit next weekend.
Nuno under pressure
Pressure is building on Nuno after a poor run of results (Photo: Getty)There is doubt over almost every aspect of the club from the position of the manager, the future of several key players and the fans’ fervent desire for a change of ownership, as well as concerns over their ability to cope with relegation to a Championship division that appears to be falling further and further behind the Premier League every year.
As one of many symbols of the club’s chronic instability, Nuno is West Ham’s third permanent manager of the last 12 months, and remains under huge pressure, as he should be with his side seven points adrift from safety.
The Portuguese coach was only appointed at the end of September after being sacked by Nottingham Forest the previous month following a fallout with the club’s new head of global football Edu Gaspar.
The i Paper can reveal that West Ham held internal discussions about dismissing him at the end of last month following their eighth successive game without a win, against Brighton on 30 December.
Sullivan ignores advisers
West Ham chairman David Sullivan has co-owned the club since 2010 (Photo: Getty)While some advisers are understood to have told David Sullivan to part company with Nuno, the chairman instead chose to back him ahead of must-win games against Wolves and Forest.
The club also provided significant financial support, paying combined fees of £47.8m for two new strikers, Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe, who both made their debut against Forest last week.
Unfortunately, West Ham lost both matches to compound their relegation fears and exacerbate their dilemma over Nuno, who pushed strongly for both Castellanos and Pablo, rejected other targets and has also told Callum Wilson he can leave this month.
“We’ve got ourselves into an impossible situation,” a source said.
“The board wanted to back the manager and have brought in his main transfer targets, but after losing two key games the future remains uncertain.”
Questionable tactics
Tomas Soucek has often been left on the bench this season (Photo: Getty)West Ham’s position remains that they are supportive of Nuno despite misgivings due to his record of just two wins in 16 games, and none in the last 10, although defeat at Tottenham could prompt a re-evaluation.
Who could be tempted to replace him given West Ham’s plight is another question, however.
Nuno’s struggles at West Ham have come as a surprise to those who watched his Forest side qualify for Europe for the first time in 30 years last season, but not to anyone familiar with West Ham’s squad.
While Forest’s strength was their resilience and speed on the counter-attack West Ham lack both qualities, and Nuno has proved unable or unwilling to alter his preferred style of play.
This concern was flagged to Sullivan during discussions over who should replace Potter in September, but Nuno was appointed regardless.
In a situation not dissimilar to Ruben Amorim’s at Manchester United the manager’s lack of flexibility has surprised the club, with Tomas Soucek often left on the bench due to his lack of pace despite being a key player last season, when he scored nine goals.
No more gurus
Supporters have voiced their displeasure at the way the club is run (Photo: Getty)Recruitment has also been an issue for West Ham, with the club undermanned in that department largely due to their high managerial turnover.
Technical director Tim Steidten was not replaced after leaving the club 12 months ago, while after initially staying on following Potter’s departure his recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay left to join Manchester United as head of scouting in November.
As a result, Nuno has been left to lean heavily on a 30-year-old analyst who was brought in by Steidten, Max Hahn, as well as recommendations made by his own agent, Jorges Mendes.
Having invested early at the start of the month, West Ham’s priority during the rest of January is to keep the rest of Nuno’s squad intact, which may be easier said than done.
Who could leave
West Ham are reluctant to sell wantaway star Lucas Paqueta (Photo: Getty)Lucas Paqueta has made it clear he wants to leave to join Brazilian club Flamengo, where he would willingly accept a pay cut, while captain Jarrod Bowen has looked increasingly unsettled as the season has progressed as he eyes a place in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad.
West Ham are adamant that neither player will be sold this month, although they are willing to listen to offers for midfield players Guido Rodriguez and Andy Irvine.
It will be a different story in the summer if West Ham are relegated, which would almost certainly prompt the departures of Paqueta, Bowen, Soucek, Jean-Clair Todibo, Maximilian Kilman and others.
While West Ham have mitigated against the threat of relegation to some extent by inserting 50 per cent pay-cut clauses in most of their players’ contracts, keeping their big names at the club in those circumstances would be a different matter entirely.
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