By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham were absolutely sensational against Wrexham.
This wasn’t just a 6-0 win — it was as emphatic a Hammers performance as I can remember seeing for quite some time.
From the first whistle, we completely outclassed Wrexham.
There were patterns of play, passing combinations and attacking manoeuvres that we simply haven’t seen from West Ham for a long time. Once we found our rhythm, Wrexham couldn’t live with us.
And considering I wrote before the game that four consecutive Championship wins would make the rest of the division stand up and take notice, it’s difficult to imagine a more emphatic way of doing it.
West Ham’s Front Four Were Devastating
In my full-time reaction, I discuss a West Ham front four that clicked in a way which made us almost impossible to play against.
Jarrod Bowen was sizzling, Manor Solomon was unplayable at times and Taty Castellanos produced arguably his best performance in claret and blue.
Behind them, Divine Mukasa and Arne Engels helped run the show, while Dinos Mavropanos continued his transformation into a goal machine.
Only three days earlier, Mavropanos had scored during the 3-2 victory at Bolton. Against Wrexham, he was at it again.
Mohamadou Kanté then came off the bench and smashed in an absolute belter.
But this was about far more than individual performances.
Hello Championship…
West Ham played with pace, movement, confidence and attacking intent.
We looked dangerous from everywhere and, perhaps most encouragingly of all, the players looked like they were absolutely loving it.
That’s a huge change from the West Ham side which had many of us getting nervous against Derby only six days ago.
Six goals. Clean sheet. Top of the Championship.
This felt like West Ham announcing themselves to the rest of the division.
Hello Championship… the Hammers are here. ⚒️
Yes it was a great performance but in the first 20mins we didn’t look anything special. It was only after we scored that we looked good against an inept Wrexham side
And to think that some people were insisting that the manager should have been sacked after the Charlton defeat! Those people need to adopt a more patient and balanced outlook 😉.
For me Nuno shouldn’t have been re-employed after setting up a defensive team against Newcastle, when we HAD to get 3 points
That was the final straw in relegating us and he should have been sacked for that or numerous other decisions last season
As for the Championship and our squad reconstruction, delayed by the timing of Staveley’s bid, you’d have to be a pretty poor manager not to succeed
Steve F. Your reality check has taken the smile from my face.
Maybe a few 10:0 results to back up this one might just cheer your mood!!
If it hadn’t been Nuno last year, then it would have simply been someone else pulling random strings and getting us nowhere. Tottenham tried some changes and went from fairly secure to extremely lucky. Nothing to do with changing the manager. PS – he’s still not doing too well now. Long may that continue.
Smiling again. COYI
Taffy, please be assured I loved seeing our Hammers score six, with 5 or 6 really enjoyable points from the match
Morato overlapping to cross for a goal
Pirol tapping in having had mare of a shot that could have ruined him for the night
The smiles on all the lads faces
And tops of all, the fantastic pass Musaka made
However, I still hold Nuno responsible for putting the final nail in our relegation coffin.
Living between Luton and Stevenage, where the majority of my mates support the Gooners or the Spuds, it would have been a much better summer thinking of the Spuds in the Championship this season, than having those pals remind me every day it was going to be the Hammers.
Having said, I tend to agree with those who say we needed to get relegated to sort the club out, with the worst of those wanting to get away gone and hopefully Sullivan following.
Hopefully promotion will get us back where we should be, and Kretinsky finances the 10 or so new faces we’ll need to survive in the Premiership…. and for me hopefully a different manager.
All the ‘laying down a marker for the rest of the division’ stuff may be part of it but to me what is more important is the benchmark they have given themselves. Now they know they can play like that, it must breed confidence. The scope of our play was amazing. Yes, the gulf in class by the end looked huge, but we had to work for that, and it was fantastic to see us put our heel on their throat and keep on steppin’.
It was great to see the players gelling as a team
And to actually see Taty smiling in the goal celebrations, shows a player now,that he has accepted he is here and is getting on with the task to help us hopefully get back into the premier league
This just shows the size of the gulf between the PL and the Championship. We were woeful in the PL last season. And yet, here we are with a weaker side, a class above most other teams in the second tier.
Weaker side, WinHam?
This team would have easily taken us into the top half of PL last year.
It ain’t what your paid, it’s the way that you play it.
COYI
I must say that’s the best I’ve seen us play at the London stadium
It was a mismatch Gonzo, the gulf in quality was enormous and in every area. I don’t remember the last time that we dominated a game like it.