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Perhaps it was inevitable that Brentford’s first away win of the season would come in the Premier League’s unhappiest and least intimidating ground.
The many West Ham fans who displayed their displeasure with the board by boycotting this fixture had the right idea. They could celebrate their decision not to subject themselves to an unspeakably abysmal performance from Nuno Espírito Santo’s muddled team. West Ham, who have started a league campaign with four successive defeats at home for the first time in their history, were shambolic. They created nothing, made bizarre substitutions, defended terribly and had accepted their fate long before Mathias Jensen, with Brentford’s 22nd shot of a horribly one-sided contest, made it 2-0 deep into added time.
The mood was one of muted resignation. Apathy has gripped West Ham. Can Nuno, who is yet to win since replacing Graham Potter last month, rouse them? The early evidence is unconvincing. This was as bad as anything under Potter. West Ham were painfully passive from start to finish, remain overly reliant on Jarrod Bowen and will undoubtedly go down unless there is a major improvement in their defending.
Brentford, who are making encouraging strides under Keith Andrews, should have had a hatful. Igor Thiago opened the scoring and bullied Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman during the first half. Mikkel Damsgaard, Yehor Yarmolyuk and Jordan Henderson controlled midfield. Andrews, though, thought back to his side throwing away leads at Fulham and Sunderland. “You want that second goal to make life comfortable,” he said. “We’ve been there on the road before. But I did feel pretty comfortable.”
By the end West Ham were reduced to Lucas Paquetá hoofing aimless up-and-unders in the vague direction of Brentford’s area. They have wasted so much money. They finished with Callum Marshall, a raw 20-year-old who spent last season on loan at Huddersfield, filling in up front. Callum Wilson, signed on a free transfer last summer, watched from the bench for the third successive game. Nuno suggested there was no issue with the forward. He was more expansive on his worries about his side losing individual duels.
“We are all concerned,” he said. “You can feel it from our fans. You can see they are concerned. Then concern becomes silence. Silence becomes anxiety. We have a problem.”
Nuno, who admitted West Ham are a long way from developing an identity, considered whether the atmosphere is affecting his players. “We try to ignore it,” he said. “We try to make them comfortable, but we cannot hide ourselves. Mentally it’s one of the aspects that we have to solve.”
The sight of row after row of empty seats was humiliating for West Ham’s owners. It was eerily quiet during the opening stages, although perhaps the fans were too busy trying to work out Nuno’s starting lineup to make any noise. Using Ollie Scarles and Kyle Walker-Peters as underlapping full-backs was a mistake. Paquetá as a false 9 in place of the injured Niclas Füllkrug backfired. There was also a rare start in midfield for Andy Irving, who made his home debut a mere 780 days after joining the club.
“The idea was that we had to work together, be compact,” Nuno said. The reality, though, was that Brentford carved out chances at will. Every set-piece caused problems. Dango Ouattara, a lively presence on the right, and Thiago were guilty of poor misses before Brentford finally went ahead.
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The goal arrived in the 43rd minute. Max Kilman, £40m badly spent, failed to deal with a lofted pass from Yarmolyuk. Kevin Schade nipped in and teed up Thiago, whose shot had enough power to squirm past Alphonse Areola.
Brentford were denied a second just before half-time, Thiago offside when he beat Areola again. West Ham adjusted for the second half, Nuno switching to a back three, but the level remained low. Passes were overhit and the gaps at the back grew bigger. Schade headed against the bar when it seemed easier to score. Eventually two substitutes combined, Keane Lewis-Potter breaking down the right and setting up Jensen to score emphatically.
Not once had West Ham looked likely to equalise. They finished with 10 men after Konstantinos Mavropanos, one of three defenders introduced at half-time, went down with a muscle problem. Nuno had made all his substitutions. There were boos when Guido Rodríguez, a defensive midfielder, replaced Tomas Soucek with 20 minutes left. Welcome to east London, Nuno. It’s too late to change your mind now.
