Nuno Espirito Santo looks set to become the first West Ham United manager to suffer Premier League relegation since Avram Grant.
Indeed, while nothing is decided yet, West Ham United are staring down the barrel of at least a season in the Championship following their second consecutive defeat.
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On Sunday, West Ham lost 1-0 to Arsenal and while the scoreline does not tell the whole story, Nuno does not have the luxury of pointing to that.
The fact is that West Ham look increasingly likely to get relegated and the defensive tactics Nuno has deployed throughout the campaign are under scrutiny.
Pundit and former West Ham ‘keeper Rob Green believes he got his approach against Arsenal all wrong.
Nuno’s defensive tactics made West Ham an easier target for Arsenal
Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live, Green said: “West Ham have got a real problem. With them setting up in a back five they are sitting very, very deep and the rest of the team can’t get on the ball. [Myles] Lewis-Skelly in particular is picking up a lot of loose balls already. If you are allowing runners and balls through like this, you are just sitting ducks.”
Nuno had deployed a back three for Sunday’s game, bringing Jean-Clair Todibo back into the fold and dropping Pablo Felipe from the starting lineup.
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West Ham fans were unhappy about Nuno’s team selection, and the Irons were dominated for much of the opening stages of the game.
While it is true that Arsenal were frustrated after that and struggled to create many meaningful chances, West Ham ceded a lot of control of the ball in a game they desperately need to win at home.
It’s easy to be wise after the event but that did feel like the wrong message to send, particularly as he had been talking up just how good his team can be in front of their own supporters.
Nuno’s explanation for West Ham’s team selection against Arsenal
Nuno has claimed that the idea behind going to a back three was to force wing-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf further up the field.
He said: “It was about being pragmatic, how to exploit weaknesses with our wing-backs and with exception to the goal we didn’t allow much to Arsenal.
“Tough team we played against, stadium was amazing – the noise, energy so thank you to fans. It’s our responsibility to bounce back, next two games and let’s fight until the last second.
“The idea was to press with wing-backs high and create a higher defensive line and the three boys did an amazing job.”
Had this game come only a few weeks ago, it might have been understandable.
However, Nuno cannot really point to West Ham defending relatively well for most of the game. They eventually conceded after changing shape again, and by that point they’d started to run out of time.
No one cares about the performance at this stage of the season. It’s about results and Nuno’s tweak did not yield one.
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