It has taken some time, plenty of trials and a whole lot of errors, but Nuno Espirito Santo has found his perfect West Ham United midfield at last in Mateus Fernandes and Freddie Potts.
Last season, Nuno took Nottingham Forest to the Europa League while Elliott Anderson and Nicolas Dominguez blossomed as one of the most coherent, complementary midfield partnerships in the Premier League.
It is early days, of course, but the Mateus Fernandes and Freddie Potts pairing certainly has similarities.
While supersub Tomas Soucek will hog the headlines after West Ham United beat Burnley 3-2 at the London Stadium, the irrepressible, effervescent Mateus Fernandes was Nuno’s standout performer. No one completed more key passes or won more tackles than him.
A purposeful, prancing performance from the Portugal Under-21 skipper.
The level-headed maturity of Potts gave Fernandes the freedom to drive forward and break the lines during successive Premier League wins.
And, while Potts was forced off with a dead leg, in came Soungoutou Magassa. The £14 million summer signing from Monaco made a positive impression on Nuno Espirito Santo during the final 20 minutes or so, completing every one of his seven passes.
Nuno Espirito Santo lauds West Ham United duo Freddie Potts and Mateus Fernnades
Nuno expects to have Potts available when West Ham travel to AFC Bournemouth after the November international break, playing down concerns over a potential injury to the academy graduate.
In stark contrast to the lumbering Andy Irving – Tomas Soucek partnership, Fernandes and Potts feels like the answer to the club’s issues in the centre of the park, providing the running power, physicality, aggression and positivity so clearly lacking earlier in the campaign.
Magassa, the most naturally defensive of their options, could also have a vital part to play. The one area in which Potts and Fernandes struggled against Burnley was when Scott Parker’s team managed to find space between the midfield and the backline.
The sort of position Magassa is more comfortable patrolling.
“All the squad will be needed. The boys coming on understand what is needed,” Nuno said on a day in which substitutes Soucek and Kyle Walker-Peters secured all three points.
“The midfielders [Potts and Fernandes] work hard and they are complementing each other. In the middle of the park, we have a lot of good options and the boys are doing really well.
“Arriving to the Premier League for any player is really difficult. We have a lot of players who we need to be patient with. I think it’s a small step, Another day where we have achieved something at London Stadium which means a lot. But we will not get carried away.
“I think we are getting closer. It is not about the team, it is about the squad. The players that came in really helped the team. Magassa, fresh legs, his energy, he helped the team in the middle of the park.
“It is about trying to find this balance, the combinations that we need.”
Nuno is not worried about Jarrod Bowen’s goal drought
On a day of standout performers, talismanic captain Jarrod Bowen fell short of his usually impeccable standards. What’s more, he has not scored during any of Nuno’s five Premier League matches in charge.
Not that the head coach is losing any sleep about that. Bowen still carried a threat, even on an afternoon when his radar was a little wonky.
“It doesn’t matter. Jarrod gave us so much,” Nuno deflects. “What we need is to improve as a team.
“I think we are slowly improving individually and as a team, but there is still a lot to improve. One of those is our offensive combinations. We need to gel better. [Some attacks broke down because the pass was] one yard off, or the ball delayed.
“But this takes time.”
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