Could Nuno Espirito Santo be handed the West Ham sack after dramatic Southampton win?
There have been two managerial departures in the EFL this Sunday.
Nicky Hayen was finally put out of his Burnley misery, after the downtrodden Clarets lost 4-1 away at Lincoln City.
Many pundits would have tipped the Lancashire outfit to be in and around the Championship promotion positions next to Southampton, come the end of the season, but right now, they're in the relegation zone on a sorry eight points.
Henrik Pedersen has also been dismissed in the Sheffield Wednesday dug-out in League One, so the managerial merry-go-round has begun.
One TalkSPORT figure is even calling for Nuno Espirito Santo's head, after West Ham United collapsed to a ego-denting 3-2 loss to the Saints at the weekend...
Nuno sacked?
Tom Rennie, who is an editor for the Premier League Live show on TalkSPORT, was clearly enraged at the full-time whistle, as the Hammers slipped to a 3-2 loss at the hands of Tonda Eckert's men.
Taking to X, Rennie wrote: "West Ham will not win enough games with this hack of a manager in charge.
Time to move on from whatever this disaster with Nuno has been. He’s such a bad coach. He’s brought nothing to the club. Can’t read a game. Team selections and subs are utterly random."
Clearly, these are the impassioned words of a person caught up in the heat of a moment after a crushing defeat, as Southampton scored three breathless first half goals to stick the knife in.
It would be interesting if these fiery musings reflected the wider thoughts of the West Ham fanbase, who will all be desperate to see their team immediately return to the Premier League.
At the moment, the Hammers board will surely stick with Nuno, with the situation at the London Stadium not quite as grave as it is at Turf Moor, as Burnley fell down to the second tier at the close of last season, alongside the East London giants.
Indeed, West Ham do still remain in third spot in the league, so they're in a good spot to clinch an automatic promotion space.
For now, he will be kept on, but if iffy results like the 3-2 defeat to the Saints pop up more consistently, he could be looking at being dismissed.
He will surely be kept... for now
He has been here before, as well, in sealing promotion to the Premier League, having lifted the Championship title previously with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
That will be the expectation at the London Stadium, too, but the Saints exposed significant chinks in the armour of the promotion hopefuls, with a fast start seeing West Ham go 2-0 down within 11 minutes.
If other teams clock onto this fast approach unnerving the Hammers, more defeats could be sat next to their name shortly.
Moreover, West Ham fans must look at Southampton with a slight envy, as while they have a manager who is a slight has-been, in terms of his stock, the Saints have a shiny new thing at the helm in Eckert, who is only 33 years of age, and could grow into an even finer tactician.
Eckert didn't fear Nuno whatsoever in the battle that ensued at the London Stadium on Saturday, and he will hope he can come out on top come May, if the Saints and the Hammers are battling it out for one of two automatic spots.
Eckert is so rock-solid in his job, that's for sure.
Whereas, the restless natives appearing already at West Ham indicate that the one-time Wolves boss is skating on thin ice, with the under-fire manager potentially not the in the opposing dug-out for the reserve fixture at St. Mary's in late December.
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