Jarrod Bowen believes he and his teammates have adapted quickly to the way Nuno Espírito Santo wants his West Ham United to play.
The Portuguese Head Coach was appointed just over three weeks ago, but has quickly galvanised the squad with his straight talking, clear approach and relentless focus.
Nuno and his captain share a desire to instil a winning culture in east London, and Bowen knows a key to that will be the strong and positive relationship between the players and supporters.
West Ham are back at London Stadium for the first time in exactly a month when Brentford are the visitors for a Monday night Premier League fixture – Nuno’s first at home in front of a sold-out 62,500 crowd.
For our England international forward, who scored a memorable hat-trick against the Bees in this fixture in February 2024, the game represents an opportunity to return to winning ways, put Nuno’s plans into action and give everyone in Claret and Blue a big boost at the start of a run of four important Premier League matches between now and the November international break.
“It feels like an awful long time since we’ve played at home, with two away games followed by the international break, so we’re pleased to be back in east London with your support,” Bowen wrote in his exclusive column for the Official Programme.
“We need to improve our home form and that’s something that’s really important for us. We’ve got four games now before the next international break and it’s a really big opportunity to pick up results and shoot right back up the league.
“If you look at the league table, we’re only a couple of results away and we play Monday and Friday this week, so it’s a really good time to put in some good performances and get some good results. Of course, we take things game by game, but we also know two or three good results and it looks a whole lot different.
“We feel confident in what the Head Coach is trying to do and how we’ve adapted to it in such a short amount of time.
“Nuno’s teams have always been really, really difficult to play against. I remember playing against his Wolves team in the Championship when I was at Hull and they walked the league that season.
“What he’s done since then, he’s had some really good success, most recently at Nottingham Forest, getting them into Europe, and that’s where we want to be. It might seem a million miles away to some people, but I really don’t think it is.
“A couple of results changes the mood, changes the dynamic, changes the energy and the feel, so we’re really excited to work with him.
“The first couple of games that we’ve had under Nuno, I think there have been positives there. Obviously, there’s still a lot to improve on, but all we can do is come in every day and listen to his ideas and put them into practice on the training pitch and then on game day.
“The messages have been clear for us of what we want to do and what he expects so, for us as a group, it’s for us to listen to what he says, respect what he wants to do and all put it in.”
Bowen also welcomed Nuno’s decision to promote long-serving Academy of Football coaches Mark Robson, Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine to his first-team staff, citing their experience, coaching ability and deep knowledge of the Club.
“Robbo, Steve, Gerard and Billy have been working with us after joining Nuno’s coaching staff and we know what a really good structure they built at the Academy and the players they have worked with,” he wrote.
“To see them get the opportunity to come into the first team is really exciting as, when you have coaches that understand West Ham, understand the Club, you have that connection as well and it’s a really good thing to see.”
On Monday, Head Coach, captain, coaching staff and supporters will be West Ham United, and Bowen believes that combination can help the Hammers climb the Premier League table.
He wrote: “As players, we want to create a winning culture. We haven’t had that as much as we wanted to over the last couple of seasons, but I think the group we have is honest and wants to do well and will work hard every day in training every day to be the best they can be.
“It is a long season and every player will get opportunities and I believe when that opportunity comes, they will take it with both hands, and that’s what we need.
“It’s still a season where we want to achieve really good things and I feel like everyone has bought into it. I think that creates a winning culture.”
