Nuno Espirito Santo grew increasingly frustrated as his latest West Ham press conference went on before making a major statement about his squad and abruptly ending the media meeting.
When West Ham appointed Nuno Espirito Santo, a top Nottingham Forest journalist told Hammers News the Portuguese hates press conferences.
Nuno has in fact been open about his dislike of the tired old press conference format.
Refreshingly, though, he actually impressed fans in interviews and his dealings with the media since being appointed Graham Potter’s successor at West Ham.
That perhaps says more about how drab Potter and Julen Lopetegui were before him.
But the passion and authority in Nuno’s voice was a welcome change of pace.
Nuno stressed after being pressed by press over West Ham woes
After two terrible performances and results – and an extended nine days to stew on the latest defeat – Nuno’s dislike of the media back-and-forth came shining through in his pre-Newcastle presser.
The Portuguese has come under increasing early pressure after a series of bizarre selection decisions in the defeats to Brentford and Leeds.
Dropping Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa across the two games while randomly starting Andy Irving and suddenly bringing Ollie Scarles in from the cold to play out of position at right-back were just some of the baffling calls which backfired.
Then playing Wan-Bissaka as a centre-back, starting both crucial games without a striker and having to make a host of changes at half-time in both matches when none of it worked has had alarm bells ringing among fans.
It has all been particularly puzzling because West Ham’s performances and the team selection in Nuno’s first two games at Everton and Arsenal were largely positive.
Nuno was grilled on the team selections and tactics and questions then turned to the number of goals the side are conceding.
The Portuguese boss appeared to grow increasingly irritated as he fielded some fair but tough questions before bringing the session to a sudden close with a bold statement.
A statement which is as worrying as it is encouraging given West Ham’s current situation in the bottom three staring potential relegation in the face.
When asked about the amount of goals being conceded Nuno exclaimed: “Here we go again, this again” before regaining his composure.
Premier League press conferences start with a broadcast section which can be recorded and sent out live by media outlets attending.
Irritated Nuno brings press conference to abrupt end with major statement
Then the cameras are switched off to allow newspaper journalists to ask their own questions and get their own unique copy for the next day’s papers and online.
However, when Nuno was asked what he thought of the Academy after a large number of Under 21 stars were signed up to long-term deals in the last week, the head coach made his claim in irritated fashion before standing up and ending the questions.
“Yep, yea, yes!” Nuno said before the reporter could finish her question asking whether he’d been impressed by what he has seen from the young players.
“And soon you’re going to see, you’re going to see.
“We need the boys, we need our Academy, we need them.
“We need them, desperately,” Nuno added while standing up to end the conference abruptly.
‘Academy boys coming for your places’ Nuno warns West Ham flops
As the Academy of Football, there is nothing West Ham fans love more than hearing a manager say he wants to use the young players coming through.
Many have made similar statements in the past and not stuck to their guns.
Usually because the pressure cooker of the Premier League does not allow time to blood youngsters who may not be quite ready to hit the ground running.
While Nuno’s statement is a breath of fresh air, the manner in which he delivered it – especially adding the word ‘desperately’ so deliberately at the end – suggests he may have had enough of some of his under-performing first team players.
Given the Hammers are facing a fight to stay in the Premier League, that is extremely concerning.
But fair play to the manager for fronting up and effectively calling his first team players out with the threat that the Academy boys are coming for their places.
