Nuno Espirito Santo has finetuned new tactical plan during international break that will guarantee West Ham survival
West Ham’s route to survival has been plotted by new boss Nuno Espirito Santo and they will surely stay up if he implements one huge change as soon as possible.
West Ham sacked Graham Potter on 27 September and appointed Nuno Espirito Santo mere hours later after a poor start to the new campaign in which they had won just one of their first six games in league and cup.
West Ham fans are unhappy with co-owners Karren Brady and David Sullivan right now as the club stagnates in the Premier League despite recent promise of being able to consolidate themselves in upper echelons of the top-flight.
It is Nuno’s job to turn their fortunes around this season, but his first two games in charge have followed a similar theme to that of Potter’s tenure, with a somewhat encouraging 1-1 draw at Everton followed by a drab 2-0 defeat to Arsenal.
The Hammers sit 19th in the Premier League as a huge clash against fellow strugglers Brentford on home soil awaits on 20 October, and Nuno has to implement one big change to make sure they can improve quickly and survive this season.
Nuno plans to play a back three from now on at West Ham
Nuno deployed a variation of a 4-3-3 formation in both of his first two games as West Ham head-coach, with summer signing Soungoutou Magassa sitting behind Lucas Paqueta and Mateus Fernandes in midfield to make it more of a 4-1-4-1.
This was not too dissimilar to that of Potter’s set-up, as he preferred to put out a 4-2-3-1 formation in the early stages of this season during their dire run of just one win and five losses from six outings.
It has clearly become pretty clear to Nuno that he must not only drastically change the team’s tactics to lift them away from the bottom three in the weeks and months to come, but also the formation they are playing in.
| Games managed | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points per game |
| 186 | 72 | 46 | 68 | 1.41 |
The Athletic (13 October) have stated that West Ham lined up with a back three in a behind-closed doors game against Championship outfit Ipswich Town last Thursday (9 October), with the Portuguese boss always intending to use this international break to learn and try new things.
This switch makes a lot of sense for Nuno and the Hammers’ squad, and the report also states that he is considering using a formation that involves three centre-backs and wing-backs in their next three big games against Brentford, Leeds and Newcastle.
When looking at the players he has at his disposal, it could not be more obvious that a variation of 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 is the way forward, with the likes of Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos already used to lining up that way after Potter deployed similar tactics last season.
Summer signing El Hadji Malick Diouf was key going forward against Everton a few weeks ago, and that was when he was playing as an out-and-out left-back, so putting him in a more advanced area is sure to benefit their attacking play too.
Simply put, the Irons need more men behind the ball and more impetus up front, so three centre-backs and two strikers is surely the way forward as they look to get more wins under their belt to escape relegation this season.
Nuno has worked wonders with a back three formation before
Another huge reason why West Ham fans should be all for a back three under Nuno is his track record of getting results while deploying it, particularly during his time at Wolves.
He implemented a 3-4-3 with the Molineux outfit upon his arrival at the club in 2017, and it quickly yielded results as they went up to the Premier League as second-tier champions in his maiden campaign in charge.
Wolves finished seventh in the top-flight in consecutive seasons upon their return playing in a 3-5-2 formation, while also going on to make the quarter-finals of the Europa League before Nuno was poached by Tottenham in 2021.
He can often be reluctant to talk tactics in public amid fear of giving too much away, but during his recent impressive spell in charge of Nottingham Forest, where he sometimes switched to a back three formation but largely favoured 4-2-3-1, he spoke of the importance of intensely practicing a certain style when something has been changed.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his side switched to a back-three mid-game against Man United, he said: “We only can do that because we did it before. We worked on it for many hours on the training ground and we put it to test during the competition. It would be absurd for us to make a decision, doing something that we have never done before.“
There are clear parallels between that particular example and his current predicament at West Ham, with this international break giving him some much-needed time at the training ground to implement a different tactic to his first two games in charge.
It certainly seems likely, as a result, that he will switch to playing a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 against Brentford next week, and it could well be the catalyst for the Hammers’ survival this season.