Isn’t it amazing what difference a week can make? Suddenly, Nuno Espirito Santo does not look so broken, West Ham United do not look quite so doomed, and Joe Cole is feeling a whole lot more optimistic about things.
At the end of October, Nuno Espirito Santo looked a beaten man as his winless start to West Ham United hit a new low at Elland Road.
Their worst start to a league season in 52 years, and the gulf in class between themselves and a Leeds side only recently back in the big time brutally exposed in front of a televised audience.
The Hammers needed a response and, much to their manager’s delight, didn’t they provide one.
Nuno felt the atmosphere at Rush Green turn in the aftermath of their West Yorkshire humbling. And all that hard work on the training pitch finally paid off as West Ham deservedly swatted aside Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, ending an eight month wait for a home win in the process.
One good performance does not, of course, make up for two months of bad performances. But former Upton Park hero Joe Cole feels that Newcastle triumph demonstrated enough heart, enough resolve, and enough quality to suggest that better days may lie just around the corner.
Joe Cole performs U-turn on West Ham United’s Premier League survival chances
At the end of September, Joe Cole aimed his frustration at David Sullivan and the highly-unpopular West Ham board. While Graham Potter was far from blameless during a seemingly never-ending malaise, Nuno’s predecessor was not helped – Cole felt – by poor squad-building and some extremely questionable recruitment.
Yet, Nuno has proven before, specifically at Nottingham Forest, that he relishes the challenge at underperforming clubs struggling to get the best out of an expensively-assembled squad.
As Mateus Fernandes and Jean-Clair Todibo played their best games in claret and blue, as Lucas Paqueta ended a seven-game Premier League drought, and as Freddie Potts justified his inclusion, Cole feels that Nuno might finally have discovered the winning formula.
“Before the weekend, I didn’t think [West Ham] had a chance of staying up,” Cole said.
“But they showed me something. Nuno showed me something at the weekend. [Now] I think they have a chance.”
After chants of ‘sacked in the morning’ haunted Vitor Pereira in the Molineux dugout, Wolves finally sacked the journeyman tactician following their 3-0 defeat by Fulham on Saturday. Cole feels that, whoever takes Pereira’s place in Wolverhampton, West Ham may soon be pulling further clear of the team stuck at the bottom of the table.
“I think Wolves are doomed and there are five teams [in trouble]. Two of them will go through the trapdoor,” adds Cole, a two-time Premier League champion with Chelsea.
“I worry for West Ham, but there’s more of a light after the weekend.”
Alan Pardew and Stuart Pearce hail Freddie Potts after Newcastle win
The aforementioned Potts, so impressive on his first top-flight start, is the latest homegrown talent to follow in the footsteps of Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jermain Defoe, Frank Lampard and more.
Former Upton Park boss Alan Pardew was reminded of Mark Noble when watching Potts control proceedings against Newcastle from the base of Nuno’s midfield.
“Forget about his disallowed goal, it was just his all-round performance,” Pardew told talkSPORT, Potts denied a first senior West Ham strike due to a narrow offside against Tomas Soucek.
“He looked like Mark Noble to me, I can’t give him higher praise than that. His dad [Steve] must be so proud.”
“Freddie Potts came in and played extremely well,” adds Stuart Pearce, speaking to Premier League Productions.
“I’m proud of him. Knowing his dad [coach Steve Potts] and working with the young man himself, a smashing young lad, maybe they’ve found someone there who is the new Declan Rice at West Ham.”
