Nuno Espírito Santo is already feeling the heat at West Ham after a home 3-1 defeat to West Bromwich sharpened questions over his start. The club dropped to eighth and suffered a second consecutive defeat at its stadium, which has quickly changed the mood around the project.
West Ham's slide
The form is not helping his case. West Ham are four points behind Swansea in second place and have only two wins in their last six matches. A Bola says the board wants to give Nuno room to turn things around, but dissatisfaction and impatience are growing among executives and fans.
That tension has turned a bad spell into a job story. The Guardian's framing, reported by A Bola, was that English media see his place as at risk after an irregular start to the season in the Championship.
The squad has not settled
The wider issue is that the rebuild has not yet produced the control West Ham wanted. The club broke the EFL transfer record by investing £22 million in Arne Engels, signed from Celtic, but the team still has only three clean sheets in 13 matchdays and has trailed on the scoreboard six times.
Engels himself arrives with decent early numbers behind him. He has made 2 league appearances for Celtic, recorded 1 goal contribution and carries a 7.5 average rating in that league run, which is enough to show why West Ham were willing to pay up.
Even so, the response on the pitch has not been stable enough. The board may still want patience, but the defeat to West Bromwich has made the next run of results the real test, starting with the pressure already on Nuno.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →