Nuno Espirito Santo and the “Breaking News” banner (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
West Ham United lost 2-0 to Chelsea in the Premier League, with manager Nuno Espirito Santo admitting his approach had gone awry.
West Ham adopted a high-pressing style of football against Chelsea and had a reasonably good result up until the hour mark. However, fatigue crept in in the second half and West Ham eventually lost their spark.
The 4-4-2 system adopted by Espirito Santo requires high pressing from the two strikers, but West Ham simply lack the depth in that area of the pitch to change things up and maintain the same level of pressure for 90 minutes.
Nuno has now admitted that the system needs to change and it will be interesting to see if he can get the best out of his team within the resources at his disposal. If they wanted to use a high-pressing style, they should have signed more players.
Nuno said (h/t Claret & Hugh): “In the match we spent a lot of energy pressing high and playing very well offensively, but after about 55-60 minutes I felt that energy disappear. We tried to rebalance the team with extra bodies but it didn’t work. So the challenge is to maintain the standard throughout the match.”
It has been a disappointing season for West Ham, but they are fighting to remain in the Premier League. It will be interesting to see if they can improve their performance in the coming weeks and secure safety in the top flight.
There is no doubt that they have players who can perform much better than they have this season. Fans must be hoping that they will show more performance and bounce back strongly.
