Things have got so bad, so quickly, under Nuno Espirito Santo at West Ham United that former Upton Park goalkeeper Rob Green thinks there may be only one solution. A Sam Allardyce-inspired solution, at that.
And, say what you want about ‘Big Sam’, when it comes to his time in the West Ham United dugout, arguably only David Moyes could be considered more successful across the last 15 years.
Allardyce inherited a Hammers team at rock bottom in 2011. He guided them back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, and then immediately consolidated them in the top-flight with three successive finishes between 10th and 13th.
Oh how West Ham would love to be sitting in 13th right now.
Nuno Espirito Santo suffered a third straight defeat on Friday night as West Ham gifted Leeds all three points at Elland Road. The home side barely had to get out of second gear, too. And, as Nuno shook his head in disbelief on the sidelines, he looked as beaten as his team did in West Yorkshire.
Though Rob Green, the former England goalkeeper who spent some time under Allardyce at Upton Park, feels there is something Nuno can learn from one of his claret-and-blue predecessors.
Rob Green on what Nuno can learn from Sam Allardyce at West Ham United
As Tony Cottee again questioned the absence of Callum Wilson from Nuno’s XI – albeit he would enter the fray 25 minutes in as an Ollie Scarles injury sparked an early reshuffle – a physical Leeds outfit exposed West Ham’s Achilles heel once again at the other end of the park.
The header scored by Joe Rodon, putting Leeds 2-0 up inside just a quarter of an hour, was the ninth set-piece goal the Hammers have conceded in nine Premier League matches.
Now, Allardyce has frequently talked about the importance of dead-balls over the years. A team capable of scoring from them, and defending them, will always give themselves a chance of staying out of danger.
“There is one thing they can go and do,” Green says. “Go and stand on the training pitch and do it over and over again.
“You do that every day until you are sick to the teeth of it, and you are so bored that you think, when it comes to a game, ‘the one thing we are not doing is conceding from a corner, because I don’t want to go out next week and do day after day after day of set-pieces’.
“That is the only thing they can do.
“We did it under Sam Allardyce. He said, ‘you’re not very good at this. We are repeating, repeating, repeating set-pieces’. And it worked. You do it ad nauseam, and then you go out and you repeat on the pitch.
“Until they repeat it on the pitch, they are not giving themselves a chance.”
Nuno disappointed as old weaknesses return at Elland Road
Nuno initially felt West Ham had made progress regarding their weakness from set-pieces. However, since keeping dead-ball specialists Arsenal at arms’ length, the Hammers found themselves bombarded by Bournemouth and unable to stop the 6ft 4ins figure of Rodon heading past Alphonse Areola in West Yorkshire.
“It’s a goal from a corner, something that we slightly improved in the previous game, but they punished us again,” a dejected Nuno said.
“Commitment, focus and responsibility is all that we want from our players.”
This is now West Ham’s worst start to a season in 52 years. Even the infamous Derby County side of 2007/08 – statistically the worst ever to grace the Premier League – had more points at this stage than the Hammers’ four.
“There are two huge psychological barriers at the bottom of the Premier League,” adds Green, who knows a thing or two about the subject having battled relegation with West Ham, Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers.
“One is the dotted line. If you’re below it, it’s panic stations. If you’re above it, you will continue believing you are OK.
“But then there’s the points per game ratio. If you are just above [averaging a point-per-game], you’ve always got a game or two in advance. That is what Leeds have got now. They’ve got that little cushion. That just buys a manager a bit of time.”
