Struggling West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has finally fronted up after a string of baffling decisions that have left supporters furious and baffled in equal measure.
West Ham fans thought they had seen it all.
In fact most Hammers supporters thought they had hit rock bottom under Graham Potter.
Especially when Nuno Espirito Santo saw a much-needed upturn in performance levels and brought some clarity of thought to team selection in his first two games.
Not to mention some long overdue passion on display on the sidelines.
But nobody, even the most pessimistic and cynical of West Ham fans, could have seen this last week coming.
Nuno changes see Hammers hit rock bottom
Given the significant improvement in performances and team selection in the draw at Everton, which West Ham could and should have won, and Arsenal, hopes were high after Nuno spent 16 days with most of his squad during the international break.
What has been witnessed since has been nothing short of a complete and utter abomination to rival anything under David Moyes during his last six months, Julen Lopetegui or Potter.
Nuno’s team selection and tactics for the must-win Premier League clash with Brentford at the London Stadium were mind-boggling.
The Portuguese appeared to take leave of his senses dropping El Hadji Malick Diouf – the early frontrunner for Hammer of the Year – and Aaron Wan-Bissaka – last season’s Hammer of the Year – for the clash with the Bees.
Nuno played with no striker at home and snubbed his only fit senior forward in Callum Wilson.
Then he played Andy Irving instead of Soungoutou Magassa.
Yes West Ham have gone from Declan Rice patrolling central midfield to Andy Irving in two years.
Somehow that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Nuno inexplicably brought young Ollie Scarles in from the cold – despite the young left-back being frozen out ever since he was brutally schooled by Mo Salah at Anfield last season.
Worse still, he started him out of position at right-back.
With Diouf and Wan-Bissaka on the bench, Kyle Walker-Peters was then played at left-back.
Nuno holds hands up on baffling West Ham decisions
The changes were a disaster and it said everything that Nuno had to make sweeping changes at half-time.
But the Hammers still went on to lose 2-0.
Supporters were puzzled by the bizarre experiment as Nuno was criticised for the first time as Hammers boss.
Most assumed lessons would be learnt and Nuno would get back to picking his best and most athletic players when the Hammers went to Leeds.
Instead, Nuno once again named the likes of Scarles at right-back, Irving in midfield and played with no striker.
This time he even dropped Mateus Fernandes to the bench too so that he could play Wan-Bissaka as an extra centre-back.
West Ham found themselves 2-0 down after just 13 minutes and Nuno once again had to make sweeping changes mid-game.
Rob Green said it best when he stated: “How do you make five substitutions and end up with a better team and better shape than you started with? None of it makes sense.”
The good news is the penny does appear to have finally dropped for Nuno.
The Hammers manager has admitted he has got things badly wrong and vowed to make big changes as he looks to try and save the club and win back the fans.
After squandering chances to get points on the board in winnable games against Brentford and Leeds, West Ham now face Eddie Howe’s Champions League Newcastle next weekend.
Nuno vows to make big West Ham changes
The Hammers simply must start pulling off some shock results if they are to turn things around.
But if Nuno plays the same kind of team he has fielded in the last two games, West Ham could be railroaded by the Magpies.
Thankfully, Nuno appears to have come to his senses after the debacle of the last week.
While he believes it is individual players failing to concentrate that is costing the Hammers more than anything, Nuno has held his hands up and taken the fall for the last two games because of his team selection experiment.
“There are many switch-off moments that are costing us,” Nuno said.
“It (the much-changed team) was not working out. We had to make a change.
“The solution that we made was not acceptable and that was on me.”
Now West Ham’s survival is on him too.
