West Ham United have parted ways with Graham Potter just five matches into the 2025/26 Premier League season.
Here, Alex Keble looks at why West Ham have decided to replace Potter with Nuno Espirito Santo and assesses which players might be best suited to life under the new Hammers boss.
Potter tactics meant second-worst record in club’s history
West Ham won only three points from their five matches under Potter this season to leave them in 18th before Monday’s trip to Everton, but the decision to move on from Potter pre-dates events of 2025/26.
He leaves the club with a 26.1 per cent win ratio, and with a points-per-game average of 1.0, on both counts not just worse than his predecessor Julen Lopetegui but the second-lowest in West Ham’s Premier League history.
West Ham managers ranked by points per match (PPM)
| Manager | Hired | PPM | Games | W | D | L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Moyes | 29/12/19 | 1.4 | 171 | 65 | 38 | 68 | 38.0 |
| Slaven Bilic | 09/06/15 | 1.3 | 87 | 30 | 26 | 31 | 34.5 |
| Alan Curbishley | 13/12/06 | 1.3 | 62 | 23 | 13 | 26 | 37.1 |
| Harry Redknapp | 10/08/94 | 1.3 | 269 | 94 | 71 | 104 | 34.9 |
| Manuel Pellegrini | 22/05/18 | 1.3 | 57 | 20 | 11 | 26 | 35.1 |
| Alan Pardew | 20/10/03 | 1.3 | 55 | 20 | 9 | 26 | 36.4 |
| Billy Bonds | 23/02/90 | 1.2 | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 31.0 |
| David Moyes | 07/11/17 | 1.2 | 27 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 29.6 |
| Glenn Roeder | 09/05/01 | 1.2 | 74 | 23 | 19 | 32 | 31.1 |
| Sam Allardyce | 01/06/11 | 1.2 | 114 | 35 | 28 | 51 | 30.7 |
| Julen Lopetegui | 01/07/24 | 1.2 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 30.0 |
| Gianfranco Zola | 15/09/08 | 1.1 | 72 | 20 | 20 | 32 | 27.8 |
| Graham Potter | 09/01/25 | 1.0 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 26.1 |
| Avram Grant | 03/06/10 | 0.9 | 37 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 18.9 |
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Potter’s possession football appeared to leave a slow and ageing West Ham defence unable to cope with opposition counters, while a dependency on Jarrod Bowen – who scored or assisted 14 of their 27 goals under Potter – was compounded by the summer sale of influential winger Mohammed Kudus.
Nuno hired for his winning record
Many West Ham supporters want their team to play expansive attacking football, but ultimately results are more important than style, which may explain Nuno’s arrival.
Nuno is a more reactive tactician in the mould of David Moyes, the last successful West Ham boss, and appears almost as a continuity appointment that erases the Lopetegui and Potter years.
More importantly, Nuno has an excellent Premier League record.
He has taken both Wolves and Nottingham Forest from relegation candidate to the Europa League and, as the statistics show, his Premier League points-per-game average surpasses any manager in West Ham’s modern history.
Nuno's Premier League managerial record
| P | W | D | L | Win % | PPM | |
| Wolves | 114 | 43 | 32 | 39 | 37.7% | 1.41 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nott’m Forest | 62 | 26 | 13 | 23 | 41.9% | 1.47 |
| Spurs | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 50.0% | 1.5 |
| Total | 186 | 74 | 45 | 67 | 39.8% | 1.44 |
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More conservative set-up can stabilise team
Nuno’s teams are always comfortable sitting deep, keeping things tight, and allowing the other side to hog possession as they wait to counter-attack: his Forest team averaged 41.2 per cent possession last season, the third-lowest share in the division.
In theory, that can stabilise a leaky West Ham defence who have conceded 13 goals, more than anyone else – and almost three per game on average.
Konstantinos Mavropanos, Max Kilman, and Jean-Clair Todibo – in a two or a three-man defence, Nuno can coach either – should benefit from playing in a deeper defensive line, minimising their lack of pace, and from within an overall lower block, keeping the midfield line tighter to them.
Bowen, Fernandes and Fullkrug may flourish
Nuno teams are well drilled, particularly in how they break quickly, which should suit the smarter and more technically gifted players in the squad.
Bowen, for one, should enjoy stretching his legs and playing with space in front of him, rather than in a possession system. Meanwhile the talented Mateus Fernandes could become a key figure in a Nuno midfield such as Ruben Neves or Elliot Anderson before him.
Finally Niclas Fullkrug, who has yet to flourish at West Ham, has the hallmarks of a Nuno No 9. He is a big, strong fulcrum for wingers to run off, and has the aerial threat to get on the end of crosses and set-pieces that Nuno readily utilises.
Under Nuno’s tutelage Raul Jimenez excelled at Wolves and Chris Wood became a top striker at Forest. Fullkrug could be the next in line.
Lack of quick wingers might be an issue.
Nuno is a reliable manager and he’ll get time to turn West Ham’s fortunes around, but an early stumbling block could be the lack of speed out wide; essential to any counter-attacking side.
His time at Forest was defined by the running of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga, as well as the dribbling in central areas from Morgan Gibbs-White. At Wolves, he had Diogo Jota, Pedro Neto, and Adam Traore to perform those roles.
West Ham have Crysencio Summerville to play here and Bowen, too, but their options are limited since selling Kudus in the summer.
It’s a significant issue that will probably, as has so often been the case over the years, put pressure on the captain Bowen to help his new boss get off to a good start.