'It really rattled me' - Nuno told to fix 'terrible' West Ham issue after Millwall draw | OneFootball

FLW's West Ham United Fan Pundit has supported criticism levelled at Nuno Espirito Santo after their draw with Millwall.

West Ham United managed to salvage a 2-2 draw at The Den in the Dockers Derby, having been 2-0 down at half-time, but many West Ham supporters remain extremely critical of Nuno Espirito Santo’s initial tactical setup.

West Ham were relegated to the Championship on the final day of last season and have been viewed as red hot title favourites throughout the summer and that has been more or less born out in the opening games of the campaign.

Despite failing to win any of their opening three matches, West Ham have turned things around in September with an entertaining style of football that has seen them score 18 goals in five matches.

However, after a four-match winning streak against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Wrexham; The Hammers opted for a more conservative approach against arch-rivals Millwall.

That allowed Alex Neil’s Lions to suffocate their opponents in the first half, eventually taking a 2-0 lead into the break with a feeling that it could, and perhaps should, have been more.

Nuno criticised by West Ham supporters

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The second half was a different story with West Ham managing to fight back to earn a 2-2 draw, courtesy of a long-range strike from Mohamadou Kante and defender Konstantinos Mavropanos heading in his fourth goal in five matches.

Millwall will believe they had a real chance to nick the game late on, though, with Kante sent off for a last-man challenge on Kyrell Lisbie after Lisbie had pounced on Kante in the middle of the park.

Aside from that mistake, though, Kante was instrumental in the visitors’ comeback, alongside fellow half-time substitute Pablo – whom FLW’s West Ham Fan Pundit Ryan Horn has called to get more game time amidst criticism of Nuno Espirito Santo.

Ryan says: “He deserves the criticism – they all do.

“I don’t get what the game plan was from the start. It was just punting the ball up the field and it was just hit and hope, and there was no hope. I just didn’t get what it was.

“We’ve been playing so well this season and as soon as we change things up it all goes a bit back to playing how we were.

“Kante just needs to play more. Him, (Lewis) Orford, (Divine) Mukasa, (Arne) Engels and when we get (Tomas) Soucek back that is going to help as well – and (Soungoutou) Magassa may get some more game time and try and earn his spot but we’ve got a great selection of midfielders that have worked well together over the last few games and we decided to setup for our most important away fixture of the season and he gets it completely wrong.

“I think if we had lost that game then I think that would have been it for Nuno for most die-hard West Ham fans.

“We are so lucky that the team turned up in the second half because I don’t know what the first half was. It was Millwall, the atmosphere, the players wanted it.

“It wasn’t skill or quality, just the desire. Winning every tackle, just playing with their hearts on the sleeves – credit to them, as much as I hate them. The fans, as much as they support the wrong club, were amazing and I hope that when it comes to them playing at the London Stadium that Nuno gets the selection right because that was terrible by him.

“I don’t know what he was thinking. He needs to sort out his game plan. He has had plenty of time to work it out and he is sort of getting it right.

“Pablo needs to start as well. Three in midfield – brilliant, but Pablo needs to start. He is so key to unlocking the attack. As much as he doesn’t score or assist much, what he does before all that – he is always a part of it at the moment and he needs to play more, 100%.

“Kante needs to play more. Engels had a bad game, Mukasa was trying to make things happen but it just looked like the game plan wasn’t to have things happening.

“It really rattled me. I’m so glad we got a draw and what a game, it was a brilliant game of football.”

West Ham are still working things out

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Naturally, there was a fair bit of change at the London Stadium after relegation with the big money sales of Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville among some other notable first-team departures.

However, more crucially, captain Jarrod Bowen opted to remain at the club alongside Nuno, who romped to the Championship title with Wolves in the 2017-18 campaign.

West Ham eventually themselves spent a fair bit of money with the £22 million signing of Arne Engels, as well as the arrivals of the likes of Keiber Lamadrid, Manor Solomon, Divine Mukasa, Edvin Austbo, Morato and Adama Boiro.

They now have a squad that, as is to be expected, really should be challenging or perhaps pulling away at the top-of-the-table – and their form in September has shown that.

However, there are still some teething issues with Nuno shifting from a 4-5-1, a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-3-1 system; with the 4-4-2 he has deployed being extremely attacking and unusual for the former Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur boss to implement.

That, then, though, is counter-balanced by his arch conservatism in bigger moments, such as their first half performance against Millwall in which a fairly open 4-4-2 system remained his go-to but without any real intention or idea of what to do with the ball.

Millwall, and West Ham’s previous away trip to Bolton in which The Trotters lead mid-way through the first half before another West Ham comeback with a Jarrod Bowen brace inspiring a 3-2 win for the East Londoners, have shown teams that they can suffocate and get at the proactive shape of West Ham if they take the game to The Hammers – and that will be a concern when they return from the international break.