As Nuno Espirito Santo looks to end his wait for a first win in the West Ham United dugout during Sunday’s Premier League clash with Newcastle, Alan Pardew knows all too well the damage a poor start to life in a new job can cause.
The former Upton Park boss needed eight matches to win a game during his ill-fated stint in charge of West Bromwich Albion during the 2017/18 campaign.
A campaign which ended in relegation.
Now, Nuno Espirito Santo is currently halfway to matching Alan Pardew’s very unwanted tally after replacing Graham Potter in the West Ham United hotseat. Last Friday’s 2-1 defeat by Leeds means Nuno has just one point from a possible 12 since taking over. Their only victory this season, ironically enough, came against his Nottingham Forest side in August.
And while the West Ham fans aim their fury at David Sullivan and the rest of the board, some rather awkward questions are starting to be asked of the man in the dugout too.
Nuno’s team selections have bordered on the inexplicable of late. After the miserable 2-0 home defeat by Brentford, for instance, some West Ham supporters asked if Nuno had ‘lost the plot’ picking Andy Irving over Freddie Potts and summer signing Soungoutou Magassa.
Pardew, having come across plenty of frustrated fans when strolling around the capital, knows all too well the mood which continues to hang like a jet-black cloud over a stadium the supporters despise.
Alan Pardew shares what the West Ham United fans are telling him
Speaking on talkSPORT, ahead of Sunday’s clash with Newcastle at the London Stadium, Pardew draws comparisons between his start at West Brom and Nuno’s at West Ham.
“Well, according to the fans that I bump into around London, they are in a terrible place,” the 2006 FA Cup finalist says.
“When you look at the stats, their goal difference is minus-13. That is the worst in the division. That doesn’t bode well.
“They didn’t get the new manager bounce, which I think they were expecting. So there is a real problem over there. The fans are starting to kind of get unconnected with the board. I think the manager they are happy with. They are more looking at the board and the playing staff and saying, ‘Well, what are we going to do?’
“That is where they are right now.
“When you go into a football club and you don’t start well, you start kind of looking at the problems rather than looking at the solutions,” adds Pardew, who won only three of 21 matches in charge of the Baggies.
“When I think back to my time at West Brom, it was very, very difficult. I couldn’t see a route out.
“And I hope Nuno doesn’t get stuck in that, because that is a very negative cycle. There are obviously issues. That is why they are down at the bottom of the division.”
Pardew says the Hammers have problems all over the pitch
Against Leeds, West Ham started without a recognised striker, conceded yet another set-piece goal, and struggled to match their opponents in the centre of the park. Their problems, then, run from their own penalty area right the way through to the other end of the pitch.
Nuno continues to omit Mads Hermansen – the £18 million goalkeeper who conceded 11 goals in just four matches before he was dropped – though the lack of recent starts afforded to Callum Wilson, Mateus Fernandes and the aforementioned Magassa is far more puzzling.
“When I look at them, they look ponderous,” Pardew says. “There doesn’t look to be enough energy in the team, there doesn’t look to be enough pace. Set-plays and the goalkeeper, it looks a little bit uncertain.
“So, there are a lot of problems.”
West Ham need at least three wins before Boxing Day
It does not get any easier, either.
West Ham will face Man City, Man United, Brighton and second-place AFC Bournemouth – all away from home – between now and the New Year.
Pardew feels that West Ham simply have to get at least three wins from somewhere – and a couple of well-placed January signings for that matter – if they are to give themselves a chance of survival.
“The fixture list coming up doesn’t bode well. It looks really tough now. I always think, if you get to Boxing Day and you’ve got 12 points, you’re in big trouble. I look at what they’ve got looking up, maybe they are not going to make it,” says the former Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Southampton manager.
“This is a really important period for West Ham. Between now and Boxing Day, they need to get eight or nine points under their belt to give themselves a realistic chance of turning things around.
“I don’t think they will get [relegated]. I like the manager. I’ve always liked him. [But] I think they’ve to get a number of new recruits in January. If they go with that team they’ve got at the moment, I will be very surprised if they survive.”
