Nuno made a 'brilliant' decision all West Ham United fans 'want to see' vs Everton

Nuno Espirito Santo arrived at West Ham United amid plenty of goodwill, before giving his popularity an almighty boost during Monday’s 1-1 draw with Premier League rivals Everton.

Even former Hammers favourite Joe Cole was taken aback by the cheshire cat-like grin adorning the Iberian’s face after he signed a three-year deal at the London Stadium on Saturday.

Nuno Espirito Santo is not usually the most expressive or emotional of head coaches. But, such was the Thames-wide beam on his face, any casting agents working on another Smile sequel could do worse than to give West Ham United’s new manager a call.

There were plenty of smiles in the away end at the Hill Dickinson Stadium too, when the Hammers fans saw Freddie Potts warming up with half an hour remaining.

Nuno dropped James Ward-Prowse from the squad – talk about drawing a line under the Graham Potter era – while promoting the one player the supporters have been desperate to see a lot more of.

As Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist explained on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, replacing the unpopular Ward-Prowse with arguably the academy’s most exciting homegrown talent was a pretty smart way of getting any lingering doubters onside.

Ally McCoist hails Nuno’s inspired Freddie Potts call after West Ham United draw

Nuno is not exactly famed for his tendency to give youth a chance, but there are plenty of up-and-coming talents who have made their name under him.

Max Kilman credited his former Wolves boss for setting him on the way to the captain’s armband at Molineux, and that eventual £40 million switch to West Ham. Japhet Tanganga was the Man of the Match when Nuno’s short-lived Tottenham reign began with a shock 1-0 win at Man City in 2021.

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Nuno also gave Morgan Gibbs-White his first Premier League start, before their reunion at Nottingham Forest saw the England international complete his evolution into one of the division’s premier operators.

Whether the more defensively-minded Potts can follow in Gibbs-White’s footsteps remains to be seen. But, while Graham Potter clearly didn’t feel Potts was ready for the pressure of the Premier League stage, Nuno handed the 22-year-old his script and pushed him out in front of the bright lights at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

“Now, I haven’t seen Freddie Potts enough. No one has! He had 45 minutes under Graham Potter,” talkSPORT host Stelling pointed out, Potts making his first appearance in five weeks and only his second of 2025/26.

“He’s been at West Ham since he was six! [Potts is] the sort of player West Ham fans want to see in their shirt. I thought it was a great move from Nuno.”

“Brilliant,” agrees McCoist, the former Rangers and Scotland striker. “You’re absolutely right. You and me have spoken about it 100 times; not just West Ham fans but football fans want to see one of their own coming through.”

Jarrod Bowen tipped Potts to make his breakthrough at first-team level this term following an excellent loan spell at Portsmouth and some impressive pre-season performances. Unsurprisingly, the West Ham captain was delighted to see his baby-faced teammate step onto the field at Everton and deliver a performance of typical thrust and maturity.

If a midfield partnership of Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez or Tomas Soucek had West Ham looking like a tired, injured old buffalo surrounded by a pack of bloodthirsty lions, Potts, Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa offer the means of a speedy getaway from the relegation zone.

Potts determined to kick on under Nuno Espirito Santo after Everton display

Potts is determined to keep showing Nuno what he can offer, as well. Given how his Nottingham Forest team tended to operate – two deep-lying midfielders crunching into tackles and playing fast, incisive balls forward – the Barking-born dynamo feels very well suited to a bigger role.

“I felt confident,” Potts told the club’s official website on Merseyside. “The new manager’s come in and didn’t have a lot of time to set out his tactics, only having two days to do so.

“I just felt I wanted to come on and play my game and do my best for the team, because we were 1-0 down. I had to try and help the team in any way I could to turn the result around.

“Thankfully, we did that and that was the main thing at the end of the day. It wasn’t my performance, it was the fact that we’d come away with a point, and I feel like we could have got more.

“Today was just another showcase of real confidence in each other to get the point,” adds Potts, who is actually older than Fernandes and Magassa.

“I think there’s a lot of hunger, [in the youngsters and the] senior players. There’s a lot of hunger. Everyone wants to play and everyone is helping each other out, especially in training. You see it as healthy competition, everyone’s pushing each other on to fight to start or to come on.

“I think that’s good to have, because obviously that keeps performances high, everyone’s got to be on their game. Today, I just wanted to show what I could do to the new manager and help the team in any way that I could. So, I’m happy.

“Hearing the fans chanting my name is something I’ve dreamt of since I first joined when I was five. I’m very happy and I’m hoping to hear that quite a few more times.”

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