Nuno Espirito Santo, the West Ham boss, used a bloody unusual tactic to get his players fired up before their match against Newcastle. The Portuguese manager decided to stick childhood photos of his squad up in the dressing room before kick-off. What a load of bollocks!
West Ham's first home win in ages
The Hammers finally managed to secure a home win, their first since February. They beat Newcastle 3-1 at the London Stadium, ending a nine-month drought. Big bloody deal, they should've been winning at home ages ago!
Nuno's first win as West Ham manager
This was also Nuno's first victory since taking over as West Ham manager in September. About time, mate! He replaced Graham Potter, who was a right muppet. The win lifted West Ham to 18th place, but they're still three points from safety.
Childhood photos as motivation
Defender El Hadji Malick Diouf shared a snap of the childhood photos on his Instagram story, writing: "Well done lads." Some West Ham fans thought it was a lovely touch, but I think it's a load of nonsense. Who needs childhood photos to get motivated? Just get out there and play the beautiful game!
The match
Newcastle took an early lead through Jacob Murphy, but West Ham turned it around with goals from Lucas Paqueta, an own goal from Sven Botman, and a third from Tomas Soucek. The players may have been motivated by those stupid photos, but they should've been motivated by the fact that they're paid to bloody win!
Nuno was buzzing after the match, saying the boys did "amazingly" and that the reaction of the team was "amazing." He also said there's a lot of work to do, which is bloody obvious given they're still in the relegation zone!
Next up for West Ham
West Ham have a chance to move out of the relegation zone before the international break when they face Burnley at home on Saturday. Let's hope they don't need any more childhood photos to get them fired up for that one. Just play footy, lads!
