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Many promises were made when West Ham moved to the London Stadium in 2016 but at no point did anyone say anything about constructing a team with an unrivalled inability to repel set pieces.
There was, of course, that famous line from Karren Brady about delivering a “a world-class stadium for a world-class team”. That pledge has come to look a little overambitious, though, and at this point supporters would probably settle for some defenders who can head the ball away.
The outlook is grim. West Ham are winless in their past eight home games, there were protests against the board and there was a sense of the walls closing in on Graham Potter as his dreadful side fell to their fourth defeat in their first five games. Supporters aimed furious chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” at Potter as full-time approached and Crystal Palace closed in on a deserved 2-1 win.
The frustration for Potter is that West Ham had given themselves a foothold through Jarrod Bowen’s equaliser at the start of the second half. Yet they had conceded their seventh goal from a corner this season when Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring and they were breached again when another cross led to Tyrick Mitchell volleying in a winner as Palace extended their unbeaten run to 17 games in all competitions.
The atmosphere was a curious mix of mutiny and apathy. There were thousands of empty seats in the home sections, underlining how many Hammers fans have decided there are better things to do than watch this team in this stadium, but with little of note happening on the pitch for much of the first half it was not long before the mood threatened to turn and attention began to focus on the despised duo sitting in the directors’ box.
The dissenters had made their point before the game, gathering in large numbers outside the ground to call for change at the top. There were accusations of broken promises, laments about the club’s soul slipping away and repeated calls for Brady and David Sullivan to resign after years of underachievement and dysfunction.
If only the energy of the protests had been matched by West Ham’s players. Under pressure to produce a response after last week’s collapse against Tottenham, it was hard to work out Potter’s plan during the first half. The tempo was sedate and there was not enough support for Callum Wilson, who was crowded out too easily by Palace’s fast, imposing centre-backs.
At the other end, meanwhile, nerves jangled every time Palace won a corner. Again the focus turned to West Ham’s recruitment. Mads Hermansen has struggled since joining from Leicester City for £15m but it was still a big call from Potter to drop his new goalkeeper and bring back Alphonse Areola.
In fairness West Ham defended the first six corners from Palace pretty well. The strain was starting to tell by the time the seventh one came in after 37 minutes, though. The delivery came in from Daichi Kamada and Mateta was on hand to nod in his fifth goal in four games against West Ham after Marc Guéhi’s deflected effort came back off the bar.
The boos at half-time were predictable, especially as Wilson had just spurned a chance to equalise, dithering after being played in by Crysensio Summerville. Could Potter respond? Sources at West Ham insist they are behind the former Chelsea manager but a change has been considered. Nuno Espírito Santo has been discussed while turning to Slaven Bilic, who was sacked by West Ham in 2017, has not been discounted.
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At least there was defiance from West Ham at the start of the second half. The tempo was better, the passing sharper, and the leveller arrived when El Hadji Malick Diouf’s corner to the near post was glanced in by Bowen after 49 minutes.
Now the crowd were with West Ham. Palace had lost Yéremy Pino to injury, Justin Devenny coming on for the Spaniard, and their flow disappeared. It was West Ham calling the shots and they almost led when Bowen’s deep cross found Lucas Paquetá, whose looping header drew a goalline clearance from Chris Richards.
Yet Palace had almost gone 2-0 up moments before Bowen’s goal, Maxence Lacroix heading against the bar from another corner. West Ham, their defence fragile, remained vulnerable to high balls – and so it was that they cracked again when Adam Wharton crossed from the right, Konstantinos Mavrapanos failed to head away and Mitchell watched the ball drop before using his weaker right foot to crash a stunning volley past Areola.
The dissent returned. There were howls when Potter brought on Soungoutou Magassa for the excellent, enterprising Mateus Fernandes. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” came the chant. It could have been directed at the board as well.
