The Hammers have gone from bad to worse, and even the change of manager from Graham Potter hasn't seen the 'new manager bounce' that so often accompanies a change in the dugout.
Poor start to life at West Ham for Nuno
To date, Nuno has overseen 13 games with the East Londoners, winning just two of them, drawing four and losing seven.
Only 14 goals have been scored in those 13 games, and 23 conceded, evidencing problems at both ends of the pitch.
A win percentage of just 15.4% is worse than Potter's and Julen Lopetegui's, though he has managed 10 or more games less to this point, so there is room for improvement.
With the January transfer window soon to open for business, it offers Nuno a potential lifeline, as long as chairman David Sullivan is willing to accede to his manager's wishes.
Paqueta has more yellow cards than goals
It may not only be incoming transfers that the Portuguese will hope to finalise before February comes around, either.
Various reports suggest that Nuno is more than a little unhappy with the lack of effort from one of the squad's more senior players, Lucas Paqueta.
The Brazilian has more yellow cards (seven) than he has goals (three) in his 16 Premier League games played in 25/26, the vast majority of those matches coming under the Portuguese's tutelage.
As a player who has often been looked towards for providing the creative spark, Paqueta has been sorely lacking.
Just five big chances created this season, and 23 touches in the opposition box in those 16 games - barely more than one per match - show that, for a player that's hoping to be the fulcrum for Brazil at the 2026 World Cup, that's nowhere near good enough.
Indeed, Nuno's ire is completely understandable when looking through the lens of seeing which players are being more purposeful than others.
Not worth close to his earlier transfer fee of £85m
Paqueta clearly has the silky skills that make him an attractive proposition in the transfer market, but with his application leaving a lot to be desired, will that see prospective clubs turn away from such a transfer?
A transfer where West Ham are clearly going to lose out, given that the player can't be considered to be worth anywhere close to the £85m that the East Londoners were hoping to tempt Man City to pay for his services back in 2023.
It's debatable too that the player would be able to engineer himself a move to a 'big' club, given his lack of commitment to the Irons' current plight.
Of the 33 crosses he's attempted, only seven have found their target, and the ratio is even worse when taking only open play crosses into account, as just three of 18 were successful.
Reasonable pass completion
Paqueta's 77.8% passing accuracy in what is a very poor West Ham side could be said to be reasonable enough, though in context of the Brazilian being one of the next in line to carry the Joga Bonito banner, and be looked to in order to help drive the team forward in its hour of need, it's fair to expect an even higher completion rate than that.
When one considers that these stats slide right down to 65.4% for passes ending in the final third, it further highlights the problem.
Unfortunately for Paqueta, he can't even redeem himself with some positive readings from his defensive work.
Whilst that isn't his natural game, it's clearly required at present, and just eight interceptions in 16 Premier League games tells its own story.
Crucial next few games for the Hammers
He has won back possession on 71 separate occasions and also been successful with 21 of his 34 attempted tackles, indicating there can be a bit of bite to his game at times.
His disciplinary record would indicate that there's plenty still to work on in this regard, however, and getting really stuck in during what's rapidly turning into a relegation battle when backs are against the wall wouldn't appear to be his forte.
The next set of games is crucial for the club, given they play Nottingham Forest, five points ahead of them, Brighton, and bottom club Wolves before the FA Cup tie against QPR in early January.
Things could look a whole lot brighter by then if results go the Hammers' way.
If not, Nuno might well be looking over his shoulder, but if he remains in position, then selling Paqueta for even half of what the club expected to get in 2023 would at least allow the manager to strengthen in key positions.
That would appear to be the most sensible course of action at this stage, and says more about the player than his twinkle-toed skillset ever could.
