By Louis Nixon

At long last, Nuno’s heavily criticised decision-making has finally taken a turn, and now it has proven to be paid off in such a difficult time for the Hammers.

Since joining West Ham, people have always been very quick to point out Nuno’s radical decisions or tactical changes, if you quickly peel back your mind towards the games against Leeds and Brentford earlier on in the season, you’ll remember his weird decisions to invert Scarles and Wan-Bissaka, or his countless substitutions in the wrong times which have cost us games… but this evening, that all changed and Nuno deserves his credit. 

First of all, the biggest decision today was the initial starting squad, lining up with both Taty and Pablo upfront as well as Soucek and Fernandes in the midfield, was a brave decision, but one that certainly made sense. Soucek brought in the experience that we required to control the midfield, and fortunately, this wasn’t a game about pace, but it was more of a game about controlled decisions in decisive moments, hence why Soucek was a brilliant selection. 

The tactics he set out worked spot on, he was dealt a blow not having his starting number 10 in Lucas Paqueta, therefore he had to utilise both Summerville and Bowen to the furthest of extents, which he did, therefore that subsequently led to us completely and utterly dominating the first half. 

The second half proved to be more of a struggle, which has been a common aspect that the Hammers have suffered from previously; however, one aspect to notice is that we did substitute on Guido Rodriguez for Pablo, which most would’ve assumed was the defensive sign officially being placed in, but that proved to be wrong.

As soon as an inch of momentum swung our way, Nuno decided to bring on Callum Wilson, who at first missed an excellent chance, but thankfully, from the corner, Wilson managed to convert the cross which saw the ball stumble in the box before being thumped in, giving us all three points. 

From the players to the manager, credit needs to be given all around. It was a set of brilliant choices and Nuno deserves a lot of the credit tonight. He’s recognised his mistakes he’s made from the past and he’s learned from them, which has earned us a vital three points. Nuno can only celebrate now with the players and ensure that belief rings around the squad that we can in fact, stay up.

A monumental victory against Spurs, well done to Nuno!