West Ham could hire 3-4-2-1 Bilic alternative who held talks with Sullivan
Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg reports that West Ham United are set to give Nuno Espirito Santo one more game to save his job at the London Stadium.
The reporter claims that the Portuguese boss is on the verge of being sacked by the Premier League strugglers, but he will be given the opportunity to manage against his former club, Nottingham Forest, on Tuesday night.
It is a huge game at the bottom of the table, with the Tricky Trees one place above them, and a defeat would mean that the Hammers are seven points from safety.
It has been reported that former Hammers manager Slaven Bilic is willing to take the reins until the end of the season, but they should avoid going down that route.
Why West Ham must avoid Slaven Bilic
West Ham should avoid going for Bilic because the Croatian boss has been out of management since August 2024, and has not had much in the way of success in his recent managerial spells.
The 25-year-old manager was let go by Saudi Pro League side Al-Fateh with 1.32 points per game, and more losses than wins, and that came after he left Watford in tenth in the Championship and Chinese outfit BJ Guoan in fifth after 21 matches, per Transfermarkt.
Bilic’s last spell in the Premier League came with West Brom, after he won promotion from the Championship with them, and he was sacked after eight losses in the first 13 games.
Bilic’s last 24 PL matches
Stat
Bilic
Games
24
Wins
3
Draws
7
Losses
14
Points
16
Points per game
0.67
Stats via Transfermarkt
Couple that run with six losses in 11 games at the start of his final season with West Ham, as shown in the table above, and he has a 0.67 points per game rate over his last 24 Premier League games.
Bilic did finish seventh and 11th in his first two seasons at the club, ending his time in London with more losses than wins, but his recent managerial experiences, particularly in the English top-flight, suggest that he would not guide them to safety.
West Ham's possible Bilic alternative
Instead of going for Bilic as a replacement for Nuno, who has won two of his 13 games in charge so far, the Hammers should look to one of their former targets.
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In April 2024, Ruben Amorim apologised to Sporting supporters after admitting that he did travel to England to hold talks with David Sullivan and Co about potentially replacing David Moyes for the 2024/25 campaign.
After that, Julen Lopetegui arrived at the London Stadium and Amorim eventually replaced Erik ten Hag in the dugout at Manchester United. Both of those moves failed to work out.
The Portuguese boss was relieved of his duties by Manchester United on Monday morning, with the Red Devils sixth in the table, and he departed with a points per game rate of 1.23 in the Premier League.
That is not good enough for a United manager, as evidenced by their decision to sack him, but he had averaged 1.55 points per game this term, per Transfermarkt. Say West Ham lose on Tuesday and sack Nuno, 1.55 points per game would take them to the magical 40-point mark in the final 17 games.
What is good enough for Manchester United at the moment is very different to what is good enough for West Ham, given the situation that they are in, which is why the club should consider taking advantage of Amorim’s sacking with an approach to bring him to the London Stadium.
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The Portuguese manager’s Premier League record this season, with United in sixth place, and his previous managerial experience with Sporting and Braga, suggest that he could be a good appointment.
Amorim’s Liga Portugal record
Season
Points per game
24/25 (Sporting)
3.00
23/24 (Sporting)
2.65
22/23 (Sporting)
2.18
21/22 (Sporting)
2.48
20/21 (Sporting)
2.50
19/20 (Sporting)
1.91
19/20 (Braga)
2.78
Stats via Transfermarkt
As you can see in the table above, Amorim was a serial winner in Portugal, averaging over two points a game in all but one spell, before his move to England.
This suggests that he even has the potential to take West Ham to the next level if he can get his 3-4-2-1 system to work in a way that he was unable to at Old Trafford.
Crystal Palace are a good example of how a midtable team can use a 3-4-2-1 to create a solid base that allows them to compete against the best teams, and it helped them to win the FA Cup and the Community Shield in 2025.
It is a blueprint that West Ham could follow by swooping for Amorim to replace Nuno, in the hope that he can guide them to the magic 40-point mark, before building on that in future seasons.
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