Nuno Espirito Santo has finally opened up on the situation he inherited at West Ham — and his verdict on the job done by Graham Potter pulls no punches.

After securing a deserved 1-1 draw at Man United, Nuno Espirito Santo was asked about the rebuild he is overseeing at West Ham.

The Hammers find themselves in a battle to stay in the Premier League that will, in all likelihood, go right down to the end of the season.

That is a result of how woeful West Ham’s start to the campaign was under former manager Graham Potter.

Julen Lopetegui was sacked by the Hammers midway through last season as one of the worst managers in the club’s history.

Potter pointed finger at Lopetegui but made West Ham worse

Potter somehow made things even worse.

The Englishman arrived at the London Stadium talking a good game and constantly referencing the mess he inherited from Lopetegui.

But he had no hiding place this season when things got even worse after a full pre-season and transfer window.

Potter was sacked by West Ham as the worst permanent manager in the club’s 130-year history.

His lack of leadership was exposed as the Hammers regressed alarmingly and looked absolute certainties for relegation.

Potter ended his time at West Ham as a viral internet meme.

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And things have not started much better as interim head coach of Sweden.

Potter lost 4-1 to Switzerland and could only draw 1-1 with Slovenia as his reputation continues to take a battering ever since he left Brighton for Chelsea.

West Ham meanwhile have steadily improved under Nuno, who has set about restoring some much-needed team spirit and pride in performance.

The Hammers have been more resilient and competitive since the Portuguese took over, as highlighted by the fact they have taken eight points from losing positions – more than under both Potter and Lopetegui combined.

Nuno breaks silence on job Potter did at West Ham

A number of current and former West Ham stars have been highly critical of Potter since his departure.

Vladimir Coufal exposed Potter over his unforgivable West Ham actions when lifting the lid on a private conversation with the former Hammers boss.

Callum Wilson made a damning Potter admission amid Nuno’s recent turnaround at West Ham.

And Michail Antonio slammed Potter for ruining West Ham’s culture in a cutting assessment of his dismal eight-month tenure.

Now Nuno himself has finally broken his silence on the job Potter did at West Ham and it’s brutal.

The Hammers boss has offered his most honest assessment yet, delivering a brutal take that paints a stark picture of the challenges he walked into.

While Potter was quick to point the finger of blame at Lopetegui when he was struggling at West Ham, Nuno has been respectful and reserved, refusing to lay the blame elsewhere and instead tackling problems head on.

Now he has admitted for the first time that Potter completely failed to get any of the basics and fundamentals right at West Ham.

And fixing that has been his top priority while juggling the urgency to get results to stave off relegation and build a better team for the future.

Nuno says the biggest example is the lack of attention given to set pieces by Potter.

Nuno delivers brutal assessment of Potter’s West Ham failings

And he points to West Ham’s big improvement in that area as key to their recent upturn.

Potter’s failure to address the alarming set-piece deficiencies was exposed further by Nuno who says everyone in the game knows how crucial they are.

So he has been hammering it into his West Ham stars relentlessly until they get it right, admitting things were so bad that it remains an ongoing process to fix the problems inherited from Potter.

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Nuno: Potter failed to get basic fundamentals right at West Ham

“We are trying, we are trying (to improve our defensive and attacking set-pieces),” Nuno said in his latest West Ham press conference.

“First of all is (for us) to realise that it was a problem that we are slowly trying to fix.

“We had conceded many goals from set-pieces before. Now I think we are getting stronger and stronger…

“You (everyone) knows how important the set-pieces are in the game.

“They are basic and fundamental for any kind of team and we are working, working, working, working, repeating, repeating, trying to find [ways to score] in terms of offensive (set-pieces with) the delivery and the consistency of the delivery.”

That is as damning an assessment as you are likely to hear.

And if Nuno turns this around then it will go down as some achievement.