Nuno Espirito Santo has done his fair share of experimenting since taking charge of Premier League stragglers West Ham United.
And, so far, almost every element he has dared to place inside the test tube has merely blown up in his face moments later.
Whether it be starting Ollie Scarles at right-back, a midfield duo of Tomas Soucek and Andy Irving, or Lucas Paqueta as a false nine, nothing is working right now for a manager with only one point to show from his first four games in charge of West Ham United.
Nuno’s team sheet at Elland Road caused confusion aplenty, just as it did before the 2-0 home defeat by Brentford four days earlier. The legend that is Tony Cottee had a sinking feeling as soon as news of his XI filtered through in West Yorkshire.
Some 15 minutes after kick-off, the Hammers were already 2-0 down while a desperate Nuno Espirito Santo found himself tearing up the blueprint before the half-hour mark. Of the ten outfield players who started at Leeds United, arguably only four lined up in what could be deemed their favourite positions.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, meanwhile, belonged among the remaining, square-pegged six.
Speaking to talkSPORT, former Chelsea, Aston Villa and Marseille striker Tony Cascarino would end the Wan-Bissaka at left-back experiment in an instant if he was in Nuno’s shoes. But he would not necessarily revert the reigning Hammer of the Year to his natural, right-sided defensive role.
Tony Cascarino urges Nuno to try Aaron Wan-Bissaka in a new West Ham United role
Cascarino watched on in horror as Brendan Aaronson, who opened the scoring on Friday night, left Soucek and Irving for dead in the second half.
Driving forward pretty much unchallenged from his own half, deflection eventually carried his eventual shot onto the crossbar and away.
That Soucek did not manage a single tackle or interception during 65 minutes on the pitch was damning in itself. Irving mustered only one of each.
And while there are plenty of fans who feel Nuno simply has to start Freddie Potts from here on in – not to mention a certain £14 million summer signing in the shape of Soungoutou Magassa – Cascarino wonders if there is another, less obvious solution to those long-running midfield problems.
“Do you know, one thing I would do immediately, and people might completely disagree with me on this, I would play Wan-Bissaka as a holding midfielder,” Cascarino says. “I wouldn’t play him as a full-back.”
Tomas Soucek and Andy Irving struggled again at Leeds
Wan-Bissaka has endured a difficult start to the season himself, of course. Ex-Hammer Don Hutchison hit out at a ‘terrible’ display in that 5-1 home defeat by Chelsea, Wan-Bissaka guilty of switching off for three of the visitors’ goals.
One area in which he excels, however, is with his telescopic tackling and renowned ball-winning. Something West Ham are seriously lacking right now in front of a vulnerable backline. Cascarino believes the physicality and the potential chaos factor of ‘AWB’ at ‘CDM’ makes this worth a punt.
“He can get around the pitch, he’s a good athlete, he’s a good defender one-v-one,” adds Cascarino. “Get him around the bodies so he can win the ball.
“People might go, ‘well, he hasn’t ever played there’. Do you know what, I would take a risk and play him there because he can run and get around the pitch.
“West Ham don’t have anyone who can do that. They didn’t have it with [the now outcasted James] Ward-Prowse], they didn’t have it with [Mateus] Fernandes.
“It was a really weird game last night. First of all, they didn’t play with a centre-forward. Then, they played with two full-backs on the wrong side. OK, great players [such as Manchester United legend] Dennis Irwin can do that pretty comfortably.
“But to not have one midfielder who can win the ball for you…
“Soucek was on his own. I’m watching Brendan Aaronson, he nearly scored a wondergoal on his own because he has run through the whole of the midfield.
“I say ‘midfield’, it was basically one player at the time.”
Cascarino says Nuno is not regretting replacing Graham Potter yet
Nuno Espirito Santo resembled a beaten man in the West Yorkshire rain. Not quite broken, not yet at least, but beaten certainly. To think, only a few months ago, he was looking forward to taking Nottingham Forest into the Europa League.
“The typical thing that happens with managers at times is, you’ve been at a football club like Nottingham Forest, then you join West Ham, and you realise you had a much better bunch of players [before],” says Cascarino, who earned 88 caps for the Republic of Ireland between 1985 and 1999.
“He is trying to find a team. One thing you can’t do, you cannot have a midfielder in the modern game who cannot win you the ball
“I don’t think he’s regretting [taking the West Ham job, but I think he is] realising, ‘oh, we really are that bad’. He’s got to find solutions.”
