West Ham fans have to avoid pointing the finger at [Nuno Espírito Santo](https://www.claretandhugh.info/manchester-city-v-west-ham-preview-team-news-predicted-line-ups/) after that capitulation. However easy and justified it might seem, that performance is the culmination of three coaches and one Chairmans’ poor decisions in successive transfer market dealings dating back to at least 2023.
Saddling the club with players like Fullkrug, Ward Prowse, Kilman and Guilherme and failing (until the very last week in the summer window) to recruit young, dynamic competitive players has come home to roost.
Nuno is not blameless- no Earthy yet again, no pacy Callum Marshall, all bar one of the selected bench players being defensive – but you can’t make a footballing silk purse out of a Potter, Lopetegui, Sullivan and Stediten – created _sows ear_ of a squad which has grown worse despite £140 million of spending in ’24 and another hundred odd million last summer.
Yet West Ham still have one last chance to make amends: Back Nuno, get rid of the utterly dreadful liability that is Max Kilman – bring in a goal scorer and a couple of centre backs and there is still hope. The midfield is fixed. Summerville and Bowen have their chances and surely will score with a decent striker in between them.
There were moments watching Nuno staring blankly into the distance during that defeat at the Etihad when it was clear the Portugese manager’s thoughts were elsewhere – hopefully deciding who to sell and who to bring in to try and turn the season around.
No three-nil performance is enjoyable, but when you watch the “highlights’ tonight bear in mind that Manchester City could have scored seven or eight had they have wanted. They were coasting. And that is the biggest worry. This was like watching an embarrassing ‘boys vs men mismatch. And even Nuno knew it.