A week out from Halloween, West Ham United head coach Nuno Espirito Santo already has a haunted look.
The TV cameras zoomed in on his face after Leeds United’s second goal, courtesy of Joe Rodon’s header from a corner. Nuno’s sombre facial expression did little to mask his dread over the club’s plight.
His initial coping mechanism was to throw his water bottle in frustration. He then proceeded to place his hand under his chin, perhaps ruminating on how, in the space of a month, he has gone from being on the verge of leading Nottingham Forest’s Europa League run to nosediving in the opposite direction towards the Championship.
Forget sleepwalking, West Ham are accelerating towards relegation. Monday’s 2-0 home defeat to Brentford felt like the day hope died. Friday night’s 2-1 loss against Leeds was the day the first shovels went into the ground as West Ham’s relegation resting place is constructed.
These are bleak times, and as fans continue to mourn the club’s decline, West Ham’s hierarchy have shifted their focus to the January transfer window. It will be the most important month in their recent history and club sources — who, like all of those spoken to for this article, spoke under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships — anticipate a busy window.
They are keen to augment their forward options beyond Niclas Fullkrug, 32, the injury-prone, summer signing Callum Wilson, 33, who is still adapting to his new side, and academy graduate Callum Marshall, 20, who is untested in the top flight. England and Al-Ahli striker Ivan Toney has been linked, but West Ham sources insist they have not approached the 29-year-old’s representatives about a potential switch. Sources close to Toney, who joined the Saudi Pro League side from Brentford in 2024 and has registered 38 goals across 54 appearances, say he is not interested in joining West Ham and is expected to remain at Al-Ahli.
The club faces an arduous task of convincing targets to join. Given their precarious league position (19th) and it being a World Cup season, many will be reluctant to jeopardise their stock for a potentially brief sojourn at the London Stadium. Another area of concern is that West Ham do not have a leading figure in their recruitment team, with former head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay jettisoned following Graham Potter’s departure in September.
Nuno shows his frustration on Friday night (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Although nothing is imminent, club sources say the hierarchy are keen to find a successor and have held talks with a number of candidates. While the department already consists of head of technical recruitment and analysis Maximilian Hahn, sporting director Mark Noble (whose remit is the academy), European scouts Georges Santos and Antonio Tramontano, and first-team scout Adrian Clarke, there is a clear gap at the top.
In the summer, West Ham did not anticipate spending £127m on Mateus Fernandes (£38m), Jean Clair Todibo (£33m), Mads Hermansen (£20m), El Hadji Malick Diouf (£19m), Soungoutou Magassa (£17m), Kyle Walker-Peters (free transfer), Wilson (free transfer) and Igor Julio (loan signing from Brighton). The board supported Potter and Macaulay, but it has proven costly. With the prospect of relegation for the first time since 2010-11 looming large, they feel compelled to be active again in the transfer market.
West Ham have yielded four points from their first nine games, which is their joint-worst return at this stage of a league campaign, since the 1932-33 and 1973-74 seasons. They are three points from safety, behind Premier League newcomers Burnley, who they face on November 8. They have also played a game more. To compound matters, Nuno is the first West Ham head coach to be winless in his first four league games since Manuel Pellegrini in September 2018.
That 2018-19 side eventually found form by winning eight of their next 16 league games, drawing three times and losing five. Nuno will hope to draw inspiration ahead of forthcoming fixtures against Newcastle United and Burnley at home, Bournemouth away and then the visit to the London Stadium of Liverpool. A lack of significant improvement during that period would mean West Ham having the onerous task of sealing points against Manchester United and Brighton away, Aston Villa at home and during the trip to Manchester City in early to mid-December.
This is not to say there have not been moments of hope. Nuno played 4-2-3-1 in his first game in charge against Everton. The 1-1 draw saw West Ham buck the trend of self-destruction as they restored parity after being a goal down. There were other signs of encouragement, like Diouf and Crysencio Summerville’s left-wing partnership, plus Freddie Potts’ solid cameo appearance. But positivity since then has ebbed, due to Nuno’s fixation on experimenting with his starting XI.
This week, Ollie Scarles, who is naturally a left-back, has played out of position on the right flank. Midfielder Andy Irving played 24 minutes of league football before the Portuguese head coach’s arrival, but has started back-to-back games ahead of Potts, Magassa and Fernandes. A tactical rejig to a wing-back system, which Nuno played in a behind-closed-doors friendly loss to Ipswich Town during the recent international break, was ineffective against Leeds.
“We started badly with the way we defended,” said the head coach in his post-match press conference. “There was improvement in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. We have to make changes, but the purpose is always the same. It’s not experimenting, it’s trying to find the best solution. There’s so many things I am concerned with, like our approach, individual duels, our approach to defensive tasks, our confidence, so many things.
“There is enough (inside the squad) to turn things, and there’s time. (But) I’ve been worried since I arrived, so it’s not something that surprises me. We are worried but committed and embrace the challenge that we have ahead of us. It is a big one. There was frustration from the players (in the dressing room), and they feel disappointed. There was sadness, and it’s going to be a hard and long week for us.”
After the final whistle, Magassa vigorously shook his head as he headed down the tunnel and was closely followed by Lucas Paqueta. Their remaining team-mates applauded the away enclosure, but many in that section were gesticulating their disdain.
The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel needs to come soon for West Ham. Otherwise, they will struggle to withstand the pull of the relegation quicksand.
