West Ham’s Championship campaign has taken an alarming early turn, leaving manager Nuno Espírito Santo facing fierce scrutiny after just three league matches without a win.
The travelling West Ham supporters made their feelings abundantly clear after the final whistle, directing chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” at their own manager following the draw at Watford.
West Ham broke the Championship transfer record following their relegation from the Premier League, arriving at Vicarage Road as heavy favourites to sweep aside second-tier opposition with relative ease.
To collect just two points from three available games represents a deeply uncomfortable opening to what was supposed to be a straightforward title challenge for the east London club.
Nuno addressed the growing discontent head-on after the match, saying: “We are a big club, we are favourites to go up. We have three games, we have two points. Who is happy? But me? I believe. I trust my boys. I work very hard with them. We are building a team. Things will change. I am positive.”
He also appealed directly to the fanbase for continued patience, adding: “The fans are the most important part of our club and I respect them so much. I understand everything. I just ask again to keep believing, keep trusting us, keep going and we will try to reverse it. The win must come, hopefully on Tuesday against fellow relegated side Wolves. We need it.”
Against a Watford side that finished 16th last season and has barely strengthened since, the result only deepened the sense of alarm surrounding West Ham’s stuttering start.
New Watford manager Alessio Dionisi has been forced to adapt training sessions due to a thin squad, and a matchday bench that included two goalkeepers underlined the club’s desperate need for reinforcements before the transfer window closes.
Yet it was a 19-year-old academy product who stole the headlines, as Amin Nabizada continued his dazzling emergence with a goal of genuine quality, curling the ball delicately over Mads Hermansen and into the top corner after a neat stepover created space on the left side of the penalty area.
The English-born Afghanistan international had never started a senior match before this season but has featured in every one of Dionisi’s Championship fixtures, consistently providing the most dangerous attacking outlet for the hosts.
Dionisi openly admitted he had no prior knowledge of Nabizada before arriving in Hertfordshire, making the teenager’s rapid rise all the more remarkable to those watching from across the division.
West Ham’s equaliser arrived eight minutes after Nabizada’s opener and owed much to fortune, as Watford defender Kevin Keben attempted to shepherd the ball out of play on his own goalline, only for Valentin Castellanos to nick possession and prod across goal, where the ball deflected off Mattie Pollock and into the net.
Jarrod Bowen grew increasingly influential as the game progressed, helping West Ham dominate territory in the second half, though they registered just a solitary shot on target across the entire match.
Watford actually came closest to claiming all three points when Iker Bravo’s shot deflected over the bar following a sharp counterattack late in proceedings.
Nuno insisted belief remains high within the camp, saying: “We will gel, we will click and we are positive that, with the quality we have, we are going to do it.” Whether the patience required exists among West Ham’s supporters remains a very different question.