In the space of two years, former West Ham United defender James Collins has witnessed the decline from David Moyes’ Conference League-winning heroes to today’s relegation-threatened roster.
Last weekend’s 3-2 defeat by Aston Villa rather summed up the alarming direction of travel.
On an afternoon when a dismal Lucas Paqueta was outshone by Morgan Rogers’ brilliance – a £51 million Brazil international brutally mogged by a £10 million acquisition from Middlesbrough – West Ham United suffered a seventh home defeat in nine while Aston Villa secured their ninth win in ten Premier League matches.
As recently as 2022, the Hammers finished seven places and eleven points ahead of Villa. Flash forward to 2025 and, despite lifting a European trophy in the meantime, Villa are now a staggering 15 places and twenty points clear of their claret and blue cousins.
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James Collins, of course, is not short-sighted enough to lay the blame at Nuno Espirito Santo’s door. While wins remain rare, Nuno has fixed a number of Graham Potter-era issues.
Collins looks back further than the ill-fated Potter reign, too. Instead, he believes the downturn can be traced back to the appointment of Julen Lopetegui as the replacement for the Conference League-winning David Moyes in 2023.
James Collins feels West Ham United made a big mistake hiring Julen Lopetegui
While Julen Lopetegui has defended his record at the London Stadium, it cannot be argued that going from Moyes to the former Real Madrid and now-Qatar boss was an odd choice indeed. Lopetegui had lost support at Sevilla largely because of his dull, pragmatic brand of football.
Given that Moyes’ biggest critics often came out with similar complaints even during far happier times at West Ham, the board always seemed to be on a hiding to nothing with Lopetegui.
“I think the first appointment after Moyesy left wasn’t the right appointment. [Lopetegui] didn’t have the feeling of a ‘West Ham manager’. The players would never say that, but it didn’t seem like the right fit,” Collins says on the Clutch Nine podcast.
“Ever since then, it’s gone downhill.
“I think Nuno is the right man. I think he’s experienced enough for the situation we are in, and you can tell the boys really like working with him and like his coaching.
“I was a really big David Moyes fan. It’s funny being a football fan. I’d take three points all day on a Saturday. How do you want to play? Do you want to see expansive football? It doesn’t matter – I’ll take the points!
“A lot of West Ham fans didn’t like the way [Moyes] played, but he got us points and took us up the league.”
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In a week in which Alan Curbishley reflected on his controversial West Ham exit back in 2008, the Premier League strugglers have rubbished claims suggesting Nuno may be under pressure already.
Collins, who played over 200 games during two spells in claret and blue, knows what it takes to pull off a Great Escape. He was there in 2007, after all, when Carlos Tevez saved Curbishley’s skin.
“You speak to anyone at the club or the supporters, they know it’s not been good enough,” Collins adds ahead of Saturday’s Manchester City clash. “We’ve had a couple of good years where we won a European trophy and finished in the top half of the league, but now we’re conceding too many goals. We look really easy to score against.
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“[Nuno has] mixed the team around. The centre-halves have been rotated, individual errors have been big, and there have been some really poor performances with a high number of goals conceded from set plays.
“When you mix that with not scoring many, it starts looking like a relegation battle. They’ve got to start keeping clean sheets and scoring more. It’s just not good enough.
“Look, they are down there. If you are down there at Christmas – I have been there myself – you start looking over your shoulder getting into April. You’re not quite sure where the next win is coming from.
“[But] I can see us getting out of it. There is enough quality. It’s going to click. Jarrod Bowen is obviously doing really well, hopefully scoring more goals, but I think we’ve got enough to get out of it.
“Keep a clean sheet, maybe win a game you shouldn’t have won, and then go on a little run to build the confidence. At home, we’ve been really struggling to win a game. They will be looking to get a win – a scrappy 1-0 out of somewhere – and go on a run from there.”
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