Just twenty minutes before the kick off yesterday, Nuno Espirito Santo was forced into a wholesale rejig of his side, thanks to the injury suffered by Jean Clair Todibo: Apparently the defender ‘felt something’ in his calf and was forced to sit out the Villa Park encounter.
Intriguingly, Freddie Potts was drafted into the side as the last minute change. Surely there was a like-for-like replacement already on the bench in Maximilan Kilman? Replacing a centre back with another centre back would have seemed logical and saved the wholesale squad reboot which Nuno claimed was a contributory factor to his sides’ poor first half display.
Kilman was ready to go yet Nuno Espírito Santo ignored him yesterday and rejigged the whole squad
Newspapers go much further in their interpretation of the West Ham manager’s decision to overlook Kilman. In the nytimes.com this morning:
“Before Todibo pulled up on Sunday, Kilman — who was named on the bench — had performed a running drill with fellow outfield substitutes Callum Wilson, Kyle Walker-Peters, Adama Traore, Ollie Scarles, Mohamadou Kante and Soungoutou Magassa.
West Ham's Max Kilman
Looks as if Nuno has decided Kilman’s finished at West Ham
Most Read on West Ham News
Kilman coming in for Todibo would have been a like-for-like change. But Nuno had other ideas. Freddie Potts, the midfielder and academy graduate, would be Todibo’s replacement. The tactical switch saw West Ham revert from a back three to a back four, which led to their first league defeat since February 28 against Liverpool.
Kilman’s long-term future already looked bleak irrespective of West Ham’s league status beyond May, but this confirmed that his familiarity with the bench is unlikely to change.”
It is a pretty clear statement of Nuno’s opinion of his £40 million defender who was a mainstay of the Lopetegui and Potter eras. Being warned up, ready to go and ignored is a stark stamens from the Hammers manager. As the NY times concludes:
As for Kilman? He may have already played his last game under Nuno.
Which might be easier said than done: Lopetegui’s “pick” in the summer of ’24 came in on a seven year contract so he can quite justifiably sit on the bench for another five years taking his £5.2 million a year. Nice work if you can get it. Cannot see anyone else offering more than half this amount to a very average player. Could he be the new Danny Ings?