Nuno Espírito Santo has said West Ham’s players are willing to change and have taken responsibility for the team’s poor form of the past 18 months.
Nuno, the club’s third manager since the departure of David Moyes at the end of the 2023-24 season, is hoping to shift the mood in the dressing room after replacing Graham Potter last weekend. West Ham have been short of leadership and there is an acceptance in the squad that they played a part in Potter losing his job after eight months.
“I find a nice group of people,” Nuno said. “They are starting to realise that we have to change things. If we don’t change, things will be the same. They are willing to change. I can see it. So let’s embrace it and let’s change it.
“It goes from technical, tactical, physical, mentality, respect, communication. Communication is such an important tool for us. We still don’t have it fully. It has to be a fair and clear communication that we share. They have accounted themselves responsible and are willing to go.”
Nuno has had little time to adjust. He does not have his backroom staff yet and the former Nottingham Forest manager is not thinking about what West Ham, 19th before visiting Arsenal on Saturday, can achieve this season. “My task is simple,” Nuno said. “It’s tomorrow.”
A big concern for Nuno is improving his side’s defending at set pieces. West Ham have shipped eight goals from corners this season – the latest concession came in Nuno’s first game, Monday’s 1-1 draw at Everton – and will be under sustained pressure from dead balls against Arsenal. The worry for Nuno is that it becomes a psychological issue.
“It can,” he said. “But we will try to avoid it. The worst thing that can happen is that if an opponent gets a corner we start immediately thinking that we are in trouble. It can become a trauma.”
