If there is any manager who can save Max Kilman’s West Ham United career, and get him performing like a £40 million centre-back again, it is Nuno Espirito Santo.
Kilman credits Nuno with developing his talents all those years ago at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Thanks to the Iberian’s famed attention to detail, a defender who made his Premier League debut under the new West Ham United boss in 2019 honed his ‘game understanding’ and his ‘physicality’ in the Black Country.
Nuno’s tactical flexibility also helped Kilman switch between a back four and a back five with relative ease.
But there is a feeling, since that £40 million move to the London Stadium in the summer of 2023, that the Chelsea-born giant has been somewhat mis-profiled. His weaknesses exposed and, this season certainly, his strengths undermined.
Kilman may be a giant of a man at 6ft 4ins but his best performances at Wolves often came when he was sitting to the left of Craig Dawson.
West Ham cult hero Dawson was a central defender who would not have looked out of place in far more physical, meat-and-potato era. A dominant aerial presence who would usually take it upon himself to clear dangerous crosses flying into the area.
In the claret and blue, however, it is clear that Kilman has struggled when asked to be the head-on-a-stick leader of the backline. Graham Potter saw Kilman and co gift Sunderland an opening weekend win, while Chelsea, Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Arsenal would also go on to score unmarked from crosses into the box against the Hammers.
But, while Nuno has praised Kilman for helping to solve West Ham’s set-piece Achilles heel on the training pitch, the 2-0 defeat by Arsenal last time out saw the 28-year-old showcase the side of his game which earned him so many admirers at Wolves.
A side of his game which, for whatever reason, has fallen by the wayside of late.
Nuno Espirito Santo needs to get Max Kilman back to his best at West Ham United
Max Kilman’s Futsal background has been very well documented.
In fact, during his formative years at Wolves, it seemed that every TV commentator had it written in their contract that they had to mention the fact he had 25 caps for England’s Futsal team.
West Ham even pointed out on their official website, shortly after signing him, that those days on the Futsal court had helped Kilman ‘excel as a progressive hub from defence. [He] had a bigger influence on Wolves’ build-up with each passing season’.
“He has great ball-manipulation skills. He can draw opponents into certain areas and then just manoeuvre his way out of them,” Mark Bartley, who coached Kilman during a loan spell at Marlow, told Sky Sports.
“It catches you off guard because it is that old cliche, good feet for a big man. But he does have tremendous feet.
“He drives with the ball.”
And, late on during that one-sided defeat at the Emirates, Kilman embarked on the sort of surging run the West Ham faithful have simply not seen anywhere near enough of in recent times.
Kilman has averaged only 0.4 ‘Progressive Carries’ per game in the Premier League this season, per FBref. In his final season at Wolves, and even in his first at West Ham, he averaged upwards of 0.8.
In short, the number of times Kilman gets on the ball and marauds into midfield have halved since the start of 2024/25. Yet, he still boasts the seventh-best return when it comes to completing his attempted ‘take-ons’.
Kilman’s ball-carrying numbers are better than Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven
The ‘tremendous feet’ Bartley spoke about have helped Kilman beat his man 75 per cent of the time this season.
Former Hammers skipper Declan Rice comes in one place below in eighth, while Kilman’s 75 per cent completion sees him rank far higher than typically ball-carrying centre-halves such as Calvin Bassey and Micky van de Ven.
Nuno spoke after that Arsenal defeat about the fact West Ham must improve in possession of the ball while adding more ‘mobility’ to their game.
Though Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and co defended fairly well for the most part, his Hammers team spent most of the match camped in their own half. Unable to escape the Arsenal press and post even a shred of a threat in transition.
That was, however, until Kilman produced what Standard Sport reporter Sam Tabuteau described on X as a ‘huge driving run’ late on. One reminiscent of his lung-busting assist to set up Jarrod Bowen in April’s 2-0 win at Crystal Palace.
Or that weaving Wolves wondergoal during a 4-0 pre-season drubbing of Alaves in 2022. The moment where the wider footballing public really started to take note of Kilman’s somewhat unique qualities.
Nuno wants West Ham to improve ‘in possession’
Early in stoppage time, Kilman intercepted a misplaced Arsenal pass and set off. Playing a one-two with Kyle Walker-Peters, he kept going, taking the ball from the edge of his own box to the brink of Arsenal’s penalty area. His resulting pass to Jarrod Bowen led to one of very few occasions in which the home side were forced to clear any danger.
Kilman had already darted down the left-wing earlier in that same half, albeit before ballooning his cross out of play.
Now, box-to-box runs from your centre-half are hardly the optimum way to solve a lack of attacking threat. But in a West Ham team relatively short on athleticism in central areas, and especially with Nuno expected to emulate the transitional style which worked wonders at Nottingham Forest, expect Kilman’s progressive carries numbers to creep back up towards his 2023 peak.
“We spent hours and hours talking about what we have to address, to create unity more, more togetherness, knowledge on both sides. [We need] hard sessions on the training ground, trying to correct and improve the things that we do,” Nuno said at the Emirates.
“We were organised, compact, we improved slightly on our positioning in set-pieces against a tough opponent.
“At the same time, there is a lot of negatives, [especially] in possession. We lack a bit of mobility.
