Nuno Espírito Santo can’t wait to get his second taste of match action as West Ham United Head Coach during Saturday’s mouth-watering trip to London rivals Arsenal.
Having been appointed less than a week ago, the Portuguese oversaw an encouraging 1-1 draw at Everton in his first game in charge on Monday night, and has since enjoyed getting to know the Club, the staff and his players back at the Rush Green training ground.
As he was under the lights at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Nuno is set to be assisted by Academy coaches Mark Robson, Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine, who he says have been brilliant in terms of helping him settle into his new role.
A visit to the second-place Gunners, who are among the favourites for the Premier League title this term following three successive runners-up finishes, promises a tough test, but the boss is confident his team can build on our point last time out, as we ultimately bid to back up a run of back-to-back wins at the Emirates.
During his first pre-match press conference as an Iron, Nuno was quizzed about his time at the Club so far, the importance of the fans and being reunited with his former Wolverhampton Wanderers player Maximilian Kilman, who is in line to make his 200th competitive senior appearance - for Wolves and West Ham - against Arsenal.
Here are all the main talking points…
Settling in
It’s been hard work. Everybody at the Club has made a big effort to really help and pass on their knowledge, and create a good bond. It’s all about that.
Everybody at the Club is really committed to getting things going, getting to know each other better and helping and assisting with what we need to know about the players and for the players.
It’s been hard work, but it’s been good.
Working with the Academy coaches
In this moment, the coaches who are here - Robbo (Mark Robson), Steve [Potts], Gerard [Prenderville] and Billy [Lepine] - are being very helpful, and they are the people I really need now.
They are especially helping to give me a deep knowledge about West Ham and how we are as a Club, so I can’t thank them enough for that.
For now, we are continuing to prepare as we are, and we are good.
Learning the West Ham Way
We know that we have to compete. That is the main message that has been passed on to me.
We need to be strong, we need to be aggressive and we need to be brave, and we will do our best to be all of those things.
Focused on the fans
We want to bring the fans closer to us. They were there in Liverpool (against Everton on Monday night), and the help they gave us was amazing.
Hopefully that happens again on Saturday. We know they’ll be there supporting us, but it’s up to us to give them something back.
The bond between the team and the fans is really important. When they have the help of the fans, the boys feel free and they feel joy, so we want to make sure we are giving something to them.
Eyes on Arsenal
I’m thinking only about tomorrow. We still have one session to go [on Friday], so we’re focused on preparing for a tough match.
We go there with a good record, that gives us confidence, but it’s a totally different game now and new things will happen.
We know we are facing a very good opponent, with a good manager, but I think it’s going to be a good test for us.
Stopping set-piece danger
It’s a problem that we have to solve. We’ve been working on it, and I think we improved in the last game, but it’s definitely something we’re trying to address.
Nowadays, set-pieces have a huge impact on the game. We have good headers of the ball, it’s just about adjusting the flow of the timing and defending.
We know Saturday will be a good test in this area, but we are working on it.
Delighted for Kilman
When you look back, you see how far he has come. It’s 200 [senior club] games already for Max, and I’m delighted for him.
He’s an important member of our squad. He knows how we approach things, what sort of work ethic we want in training and how we face the competition. He’s been very helpful for us so far, and I’m really pleased for him.
