Using Kognia data to build a West Ham team that can secure Championship promotion and return to the Premier League

Rory Tapper joined Kognia in May 2026 as a data scientist. Having previously worked at Prospect & Oval Insights, Rory’s debut Kognia blog focuses on his beloved West Ham, and how they may look to adapt following relegation to the Championship this season.

The final day of the 2025/26 Premier League season saw contrasting emotions across the capital. In south London, a celebratory mood bounced around Selhurst Park as the newly crowned champions faced off against a London Club who had just conquered Europe for the first time in their history. In north London, relief was the overriding emotion as Spurs scraped past Everton, securing survival to cap off a season fans would really like to forget. 

A few miles east and despite a 3-0 victory over Leeds, West Ham were left to rue a season where, in truth, they weren’t good enough to stay up. The club suffered from a litany of mistakes, mostly made at the start of the season but many of which were a consequence of recruitment errors over a series of years. 

A summer of upheaval is to follow for West Ham. However, with a quick start to the transfer window imperative, West Ham find themselves with a power vacuum at the top. With no Director of Football, decisions at the club will largely be left to the Interim CEO and manager Nuno Espírito Santo. 

The question on everyone’s lips is ‘how can they steer a rudderless ship to calmer waters?’. This article will demonstrate how by using Kognia data, West Ham can assess and evaluate the areas they need to make moves before identifying realistic solutions.

What will Nuno want?

For all the criticism, the surprising reality is that West Ham actually found themselves playing with the form of a top half team in the second half of the season. Sadly for them, the damage was already done as West Ham were 17 points adrift of Spurs in January. 

Nuno is not immune from criticism, but he deserves considerable credit for transforming a team of players who looked dead and buried into a competitive outfit. So, just how did he do it? And how might this change in the Championship as West Ham seek to impose their style of play as promotion favourites?

Back to basics

A notable feature of West Ham’s defence under Nuno was how they played in the most simplistic way possible. Under Potter, West Ham struggled to progress the ball forward with three centre backs. They also suffered against teams as they tried to play a possession based game but with slower CBs (Kilman, Disasi & Mavropanos’ max speed percentile ranks at 14th, 16th & 22nd amongst CBs respectively) and would get caught on the break often. 

Largely thanks to reverting to a back four, Disasi & Mavropanos were left to do the basics - interceptions, blocks & clearances. On the ball, you can see starkly from the table below how they passed long more than almost any other defenders. This, in combination with a lower block than the majority of their league rivals, allowed the CBs to focus on what they are good at - defending. Less space behind enabled them to defend the box & behind the line better. Mavropanos put his body on the line, while Disasi moved the team forward under organised pressure - a leadership quality they lacked at the back having lost Zouma, Ogbonna & Dawson in recent seasons.

West Ham will want to see the same kind of fight from their defenders next season - but they may look to sign players more comfortable on the ball as they look to control games more in the lower division.

Attacking with purpose

Summerville (122 dribbles) and Bowen (117) ranked fifth and seventh respectively for take ons attempted in the PL last season, reflecting West Ham’s preference to buck the trend in the majority of the league and ask their wingers to play fast, direct football rather than prioritising possession and recycling the ball.

In Bowen’s case he drove right into the box and often aimed to score himself, with only Morgan Rogers (8) ending his dribbles in a shot more than Bowen (6). This was in addition to six other dribbles into the box, a decent number for a team with a low % of possession. The Hammers clearly sought to get him on the end of moves as much as possible; he received the ball after running into the box 0.43 P90 and offered finishing support at a rate 0.5 P90 through the season. Nuno made his role clearly defined in the system - be the man on the end of things. His ability to receive the ball after moving behind the defensive line (1.05 P90) shows how this role aligns with his strengths.

Summerville’s directness was designed to stretch the defence & occupy defenders, creating space for others. He successfully completed 1.69 take ons P90 last season, winning 67 fouls in the process. He is consistently able to take advantage of imbalances in the opposition team defence (706 occasions, 89th Percentile amongst forward players) and, like Bowen, dribbled into the box often over the season (7). His final goal & assists numbers were lower compared to Bowen however (5G, 3A v 9G, 11A), although this partly reflects his role in creating space for others. 

Often, El Hadji Malick Diouf was the benefiter - overcoming opponents with horizontal support 7.6 times a game as he used his engine to overlap opponents. Diouf managed to complete 0.39 open play crosses P90 - bringing the likes of Bowen (0.12 shots P90 from crosses), Taty (0.67) & Soucek (0.14) into the game in the box.

Battling for first & second balls

In signing Pablo and Taty Castellanos West Ham didn’t look directly for goalscoring prowess in their front line. Instead, he sent a message to the squad - we’re going to battle for every ball from now on. Taty & Pablo ran their socks off and, combined with Soucek being reinstated to midfield, gave West Ham a fighting chance in every game. Each of them averaged 10km+ run P90 (93rd/95th/73rd percentile in the league for their positions), competing for every offensive aerial duel (Pablo 4.64 P90, Taty 2.7 P90 & Soucek 2.28 P90). They were West Ham’s outlet balls in a team that tried to get up the pitch in few passes rather than build slowly. 

A lack of technical quality was perhaps noticeable, but it would be no surprise to see these three spearheading West Ham’s promotional push next year given their physical strengths.

Fernandes focus

Arguably the most influential change was building the team around Mateus Fernandes. At 21 he has already shown his capabilities as an all round defensive midfielder and is West Ham’s most valuable asset. He is the target of speculation from Manchester United & Arsenal and the data shows why. 

In a poor team he has excelled defensively & offensively. He ranks highly in the league against CMs  - 93rd percentile for tackles won P90 (1.82) - and also for putting pressure on the ball possessor (49 P90, 97th percentile) demonstrating his defensive tenacity. Diving deeper, he was able to recover the ball at an impressive rate of 4.94 P90 (81st percentile).

On the ball he consistently showed up as a supporting option for a team mate in difficult situations (six emergency supports P90) & also showed his ability to not just get the ball & move it, but also to find space to offer again immediately (0.3 one-two supports P90). This was important to West Ham who needed him on the ball consistently as the most technical midfielder they possess by a distance. He contributed 0.8 key passes P90 (79th percentile) and when threading passes between the lines (2.2 P90), 

Kognia tactical data showed he was often able to find team mates in more advanced positions who were under less pressure than himself. 44% of his passes through the lines found players further forward in more space than himself. However, on occasion his willingness to get the ball forward did lead to passes that put his teammates under pressure - the data allows us to understand this nuance in more depth and perhaps suggest the youthful Fernandes may need to pick his moments slightly more wisely.

Identifying replacements

Notably, the players Nuno built the team around will also be the target of the most intense transfer speculation. These players stood up when West Ham needed them most and proved their premier league quality, so it is here West Ham will be most pressed to buy - and buy well. Having outlined the qualities of Summerville, Fernandes, Bowen & West Ham’s CBs, we will now dive into the data in an attempt to seek adequate replacements.

For each of the four players we are looking to replace we have identified three potential replacements, from a few different sources. Through the data on Kognia’s web app, we will look at:

• Premier League squad players

• Championship Bolters

• Nuno’s Portuguese wildcards

The three sources are relevant to a club recently relegated to the Championship, but also touch on Nuno’s Portuguese links and his previous history buying strong players from his native homeland, particularly at Wolves.

Replacements at centre back

Replacing Mateus Fernandes

Replacing Crysencio Summerville

Replacing Jarrod Bowen

There will almost definitely be a lot of departures and arrivals at West Ham this summer. Through the application of Kognia data, we can identify players who may fit the manager's tactical style, and provide the necessary quality to get out what is an incredibly competitive division.