West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo has already made some very interesting decisions since arriving at Rush Green last month.
Nuno axes West Ham players as new London Stadium era begins
The Portuguse’s most noteworthy squad reshuffle has been the complete, and rather public, omission of Graham Potter’s vice-captain James Ward-Prowse.
Nuno already has a history of axing Ward-Prowse, having cut his Nottingham Forest loan spell short last season, and since the new West Ham manager’s arrival, history has repeated itself.
The 30-year-old was a surprise absentee from Nuno’s first West Ham matchday squad against Everton and didn’t get called up for Arsenal either, with reports suggesting that Ward-Prowse has been told he can find a new club in January.
Ex-Hammers scout Mick Brown theorised last week that Nuno prefers his midfielders to be more aggressive, energetic and combative to add more steel to the engine room, and Ward-Prowse simply doesn’t fit the bill despite his threat from dead ball situations.
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham
West Ham 1-5 Chelsea
Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham
West Ham 0-3 Tottenham
West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace
Everton 1-1 West Ham
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
Defender Jean-Clair Todibo was absent from West Ham’s squad to face Everton too, which was believed to be down to illness, but the tactician confirmed that he trained alongside Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the build up to their trip to Arsenal.
“We worked with 22 boys (on the training pitch),” Nuno said before their 2-0 loss in North London.
“(The day before the game) is the day we make decisions. Todibo trained. Last week, he didn’t train in all the sessions. Now, he’s involved. We will see.
“The same (for Wan-Bissaka), the same. Thank God, this week has been good. They are recovering.”
Unlike Wan-Bissaka, who went straight back into the starting eleven after missing their Merseyside clash, Todibo was still nowhere to be seen against Arsenal despite his availability.
It will be interesting to see if he’s called upon against Brentford this weekend, but after an underwhelming spell in East London so far, Todibo could well be flirting with Nuno’s axe as well.
Goalkeeper Mads Hermansen has also been dropped to the bench recently, with Nuno preferring Alphonse Areola as his number one shot-stopper so far, despite Potter starting the Dane in West Ham’s first four Premier League games.
Pundit "worried" for Mads Hermansen at West Ham
As relayed by Tipsbladet, former Denmark goalkeeper and Viaplay expert, Peter Kjaer, has expressed his concern about the 25-year-old’s situation — which he calls a crying shame for Hermansen’s country.
The former Leicester City star, who signed for around £20 million in the summer, faces a battle for game time ahead of Areola, and his lack of minutes could stunt the keeper’s development.
“I’ve actually been worried too. I think it was a good move,” he said.
“It was actually one that I had predicted would happen because I think things fit together well.
“They had a coach at the time in Graham Potter who wanted to play football, and we know Mads Hermansen as a goalkeeper who is good with his feet. So, it looked like a match made in heaven, but things happen in football that you can’t know in advance, and it has also happened that they have lost a lot of football matches and have changed managers.
“Now we have a completely new situation, where a new manager has come in, who, by the way, was a goalkeeper in his own career.”
Kjaer expanded by predicting that Nuno won’t be changing his number one any time soon, in what could be a major worry for Hermansen, with the 2026 World Cup looming and Denmark in pole position to qualify automatically from their group.
“I am not sure that you just change the goalkeeper,” he concluded.
“It is a real shame for Mads Hermansen, and it is a shame on behalf of Denmark that Hermansen has now come a little further from playing time at West Ham than he was when he arrived, because the situation has developed as it has.”
