So much has been made about Nuno Espirito Santo’s disastrous set-up against Newcastle on Sunday but Jarrod Bowen insists the players knew what they were supposed to do.
That, then, is a very poor reflection on the West Ham United players.
Indeed, Nuno deployed a five-at-the-back formation in a game he needed to win and still saw his side blown away in the opening 20 minutes at St James’ Park.
We are all but relegated — how would you feel about keeping Nuno in the Championship? 🧑💼
Or was that performance the last straw? 😡
Nuno brought Jean-Clair Todibo off after only 26 minutes in what was an admission he got it all wrong.
The head coach has been pilloried for his poor tactical approach, but Bowen claims the players were understanding of their roles.
Bowen says West Ham players knew what they were supposed to be doing – but didn’t do it
Speaking to West Ham United TV, a visibly downbeat Bowen said: “I don’t know how you explain it, really. You can look for excuses, but ultimately we knew what we were doing. We’d worked on it in the week, had meetings and knew what we wanted to do, but when the time came we just didn’t do it well enough.”
Which West Ham player was the most infuriating against Newcastle United?
The Hammers were shambolic at St. James' Park…
Clearly, Nuno cannot do much about Mads Hermansen’s dreadful pass to Todibo that led to the first goal. These are players who should be executing that better, even if an instruction to play out from the back would no doubt frustrate supporters given the team’s perilous situation heading into the game.
Nuno can also do little about the utter lack of urgency Todibo showed in getting back after Harvey Barnes had passed him.
That is not to absolve Nuno of any blame here. Even the idea of playing such a defensive (at least in theory) system in a must-win game is mind-boggling.
Still, what Bowen is saying is concerning. It suggests there was a group of players who either couldn’t or didn’t believe in executing the plan.
Given all that was at stake heading into Sunday’s game at St James’ Park, that is a damning reflection on all involved.
Those at the very top of the club are to blame for this impending relegation but no one below them stood up to be counted for.
West Ham were awful against Newcastle and, sadly, they got what they deserved.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
