Archive for September 30, 2025
A draw at the beginning
Achieving a 1-1 draw away at Everton and being the first opposition team to score a goal in the Toffee’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium is not a bad start for West Ham’s new head coach Nuno Espírito Santo, and West Ham can draw some hope from this result.
Gary Jacob writes in The Times that this result gives Nuno “something to build on”. The new manager who had conceded that three days in charge was not nearly long enough for him to understand and digest all of West Ham United’s idiosyncrasies, will be a little clearer after a night that amounted to „something of a crash course in the recent fortunes of the club“:
“There was a goal conceded from a set piece, Michael Keane’s header the eighth occasion already this season West Ham have been breached in such fashion, before the brilliance of Jarrod Bowen announced itself to drag those around him out of the mire. That was enough to ensure the new manager had his bounce.“
“Overall, it was impossible to shake the impression that the visiting team had displayed more resolve in clambering off the canvas than had been evident during the torrid final weeks of Graham Potter’s tenure.”
“Bowen became the first visiting player to score here and [Everton manager] Moyes would have recognised Bowen’s desire to seize the moment. After all, he had taken him to the London Stadium during his own time at West Ham and watched the winger win the Conference League for him.”
“Further positives [for West Ham] could be extracted from the cameo of Crysencio Summerville, whose darting runs off the left flank offered suitable support to Bowen and could become a feature of the counterattacking style that will surely follow under the new man.”
At the final whistle Nuno led his players over to the corner of Hill Dickinson Stadium, where the away supporters were gathered. “We have to deliver so they can appreciate the work of the boys. It was a nice moment for us, moving forward that bond is important. But we are only starting now. There is a lot of work to do,” the new gaffer who thanked the fans for travelling to Liverpool on a Monday night, said.
Next stop for the Hammers is the Emirates with another away game against Arsenal. Another tough match for the new regime that now has four days to prepare the team for this visit to north London.
Martin Samuel wrote in The Times before the Everton game that West Ham “need a little of the oomph that has been missing, with Potter seen as too docile, too reactive; a training-ground coach without the personality or dynamism to handle the very real problems encountered when Saturday came — or Monday, when the real work begins.” It seems Nuno is capable of reenergising the team. He “wanted to get cracking, three away fixtures in his first four games, against Everton, Arsenal and Leeds United, did not faze him.”
In the second half at Everton, West Ham appeared transformed. “The Nuno effect is up and running”, Jason Burt writes in The Telegraph:
“It may have only been a draw, they may remain in the bottom three, but it was a result that not just vindicated the sacking of Potter but also its timing. It will not stop the protests directed at the owners but there was a change of mood, however small, at a club who have been engulfed in turmoil and unhappiness for so long.”
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