Nuno Espírito Santo has aimed a subtle dig at West Ham fans when speaking about Jarrod Bowen — but in reality, his comments should go down brilliantly in East London.
West Ham fans have been put through a lot over the last couple of years.
The club has failed dismally to build on their only major trophy triumph of the last 45 years.
After finally building a team to compete with the Premier League top six, the Hammers did not recruit well enough to keep the momentum.
It has taken two years for West Ham to adequately replace Declan Rice in the shape of Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa.
Tens of millions have been wasted in between and big losses are on the way in the club’s latest accounts.
West Ham fans have been put through the mill for two years
There have been less than 20 wins from the last 70 Premier League games, so Hammers fans can be excused for being a little fed up.
Throw in the almost universal hatred of the club’s home ground and it’s been a toxic mix.
Amidst all the gloom Jarrod Bowen has often been a ray of light and hope.
The reality is Bowen has single-handedly carried West Ham since Rice’s departure.
Other players, such as Tomas Soucek, have been reliable and hard-working too. Some have chipped in with big performances from time to time as well.
But nobody has been that consistent guarantee of performance and output like Bowen.
Yet he has found himself being criticised by many Hammers fans this season.
Bowen had a row with a West Ham fan in the crowd after the defeat in the League Cup at Wolves – the only game the Molineux side have won all season.
It stems from Julen Lopetegui’s decision to make the Prague hero captain last summer.
Some fans feel their best player is not captain material.
Graham Potter leaked to a journalist that he feels Bowen is not a captain.
Not that Potter’s opinion holds any weight given his utterly abysmal tenure that has set West Ham back years.
Bowen actually hit back at Potter with his celebration in Nuno Espirito Santo’s first West Ham game after he scored the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Everton.
Nuno Espirito Santo is cleaning up Potter and Lopetegui’s mess, rebuilding West Ham’s team spirit and making the team more competitive and resilient in a matter of months.
Nuno aims dig at West Ham fans over Bowen
The best example of that is the fact West Ham have now taken more points when coming from behind in their time under Nuno than under both Potter and Lopetegui combined.
Nuno has been full of praise for West Ham fans and also made a point of saying it was time for the players to start giving supporters something to cheer about rather than asking fans to blindly get behind the team.
The Hammers’ head coach has also proved he has an authoritative aura and ruthless streak, in a similar vein to David Moyes.
It is exactly what West Ham have been crying out for in their bid to stay up.
What they didn’t need was Lucas Paqueta’s petulant and ludicrous red card which saw him suspended yet again when West Ham went to Man United.
Bowen came under fire from West Ham fans over the Paqueta incident with supporters suggesting he did not do enough to deescalate the situation and thereby proving he is not cut out to be skipper.
Bowen has admitted he could have handled the Paqueta outburst better as it became clear he is fully aware of the frustration of fans over his conduct as much as the Brazilian’s.
Now Nuno has aimed a dig at West Ham fans over Bowen but they should love it.
While Hammers supporters may be in the firing line of Nuno’s subtle jibe, it’s exactly what they should want to hear from any manager worth his salt.
Nuno uses Bowen question to respond to critics of his captaincy
Well aware of the criticism that Bowen has faced over the Paqueta incident and his below par performances of late, Nuno took the opportunity to randomly publicly back Bowen’s captain credentials.
When he was asked about Bowen’s header which led to West Ham’s equaliser at Old Trafford, Nuno broke off to throw his weight behind the number 20.
His comments came with a knowing grin that suggested he knew exactly what he was doing as he made a segue into his praise for Bowen’s leadership.
“And I will say I’m very pleased with the work of Jarrod,” Nuno told Sky Sports.
“We are very happy to have him as a captain.
“He leads by example and he did an amazing game (against Man United).”
This was not a spiky message to fans from Nuno or one to cause division.
In fact it is quite the opposite.
This was Nuno making it clear to the fans not only does Bowen have his full support as captain, but that we are all in this together as a club from the manager to the players to the fans and need to have each other’s backs rather than getting on them.
After all Bowen has carried the team on his for so long, the last thing he needs is supporters adding to the weight.
Is Jarrod Bowen really the right man to captain West Ham? Who should replace him as skipper?
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