There will have been few West Ham United players more delighted than Max Kilman to see Nuno Espirito Santo – his former boss at Wolves – make a speedy return to a Premier League dugout on Saturday.
And, wouldn’t you just know it, Kilman produced his best Hammers display of the season just two days after he was reunited with the coach who gave him his chance in the top-flight all those years ago at Molineux.
Kilman credits Nuno Espirito Santo for helping to hone his positional sense and his tactical flexibility. That he would later become the captain of Wolves, before securing a £40 million move to West Ham United, owes much to Nuno’s willingness to drill down into the minutiae and develop even the smallest aspects of his players’ game.
Max Kilman’s reputation nosedived towards the end of the Graham Potter reign. A coach who knows how to organise a Premier League backline, then, is a more-than welcome appointment, not only for the fanbase but for those on the pitch as well.
Max Kilman shares what Nuno Espirito Santo told West Ham United players at Everton
Speaking to the club’s official website shortly after Jarrod Bowen secured Nuno a well-deserved point at Everton, Kilman admitted that the 51-year-old Portuguese had already made a ‘big impact’ just 48 hours or so after taking Potter’s place.
Captain Bowen has been ‘so impressed’ with Nuno himself, highlighting the lofty standards he sets both himself and the players at his disposal.
The new West Ham boss is determined to instil further improvements, particularly out of possession and with regards to their dismal set-piece record.
All this is music to the ears of Kilman.
“Nuno has made a big impact already, but we know we’ve still got a lot to work on,” the centre-back says while offering a peek behind the curtain into the manager’s post-match message.
“He said that straight after the game [that we must improve], but that he’s got confidence in us. And I think we’re only going to grow as a team.
“We know we need to cut out those little moments that are costing us winning games at the moment. We know we need to find that extra five or ten per cent to win those duels and second phases, and we’ll continue to do that this week.
“Hopefully we can build on tonight, because I think we did well to stick together in a tough stadium. We didn’t have long to prepare with the new manager, and to get a result anywhere in the Premier League is massive.
“We’ve got a few days now before Arsenal [away on Saturday], which we know is going to be a tough game. So, we’ll try to continue to gel and get ready to give our best.”
Kilman explained how Nuno enabled his rise at Wolves
Nuno has placed much emphasis on creating a team capable of defending as a team, from front to back.
While his Nottingham Forest side were one of the most blistering counter-attacking teams in the Premier League last season, Neco Williams, Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and goalkeeper Matz Sels all enjoyed career-best campaigns as part of a rock-solid backline.
Nuno led Wolverhampton Wanderers to seventh place in 2020/21, meanwhile, with the fifth-best defence in the league. Kilman was a big part of a team which conceded only 40 goals in 38 matches.
“I was a big, strong boy but I had so much to work on,” Kilman once told the Birmingham Mail while explaining the impact Nuno had on his rise to prominence in Old Gold.
“[Nuno improved] my game understanding and my physicality. When, I came in I had never played five at the back so I’ve had to adapt and understand my role as a defender. I’ve had to become stronger and sharper, and that’s what I lacked when I first came into Wolves.
“I had to know when to press, when to get tight to my man, when to cover, and understanding how to cover round my wing-back and work as a five.
“Nuno and the whole staff don’t just say, ‘It’s good enough’. There’s always room for improvement and they’re always trying to find ways to make us that little bit better.”
