By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
I probably should feel more elated about West Ham coming back from 2-0 down at The Den, particularly after going down to ten men late on. But I don’t. I’m still struggling to get past just how bad that first-half performance was.
What surprised me most was that Millwall did absolutely nothing surprising. They were committed, energised, physical, hard in the tackle and backed by a hostile crowd. Of course they were. We knew exactly what was coming, yet West Ham somehow appeared completely unprepared for it.
The players looked genuinely shocked that they weren’t being given time on the ball. Our technical ability deserted us, we withered physically and some players appeared completely thrown by the occasion. As reflected in our player ratings from The Den, West Ham were fortunate to go into the break only 2-0 down.
I still can’t get past that first half
Millwall didn’t need some tactical masterplan to unsettle us. They competed harder, made us uncomfortable and for 45 minutes we had no answer.
That concerns me far more than individual poor performances. Nuno Espírito Santo has West Ham supporters and former Hammers on his coaching staff, so everyone knew what sort of game this was going to be. Yet Alex Neil’s team looked far better prepared for it.
It was particularly disappointing because there had been no shortage of warnings beforehand. Even when Nuno’s starting XI was announced, we knew Millwall would try to get under West Ham’s skin from the start.
West Ham still looked surprised when they actually did it.
Nuno deserves credit for changing it
The positive, obviously, was the response. Nuno recognised it wasn’t working and changed both the personnel and formation at half-time, with Pablo and Mohamadou Kanté replacing Joël Piroe and Kyle Walker-Peters.
Pablo gave us some desperately needed physicality, while Kanté helped drag West Ham back into the contest. As Millwall understandably tired after putting so much into the first hour, West Ham finally started finding space.
Bowen became more influential, Solomon looked far happier after eventually moving inside and suddenly we were the team asking the questions. Kanté’s goal gave us belief and Mavropanos’ equaliser completed a comeback that had looked almost impossible at half-time.
Kanté then went from hero to villain with a deserved red card and, down to ten men, we had to survive another spell of Millwall pressure. His contribution rather summed up the afternoon: he helped completely change the game before his own mistake led to the dismissal.
Kante and Pablo were able it emerge from the draw against Millwall with some credit
Millwall will feel this more than West Ham
There is only one way this afternoon could have felt worse: if we’d swapped the two halves around. Had West Ham gone 2-0 up, played well and then collapsed to draw 2-2, it would have felt like a dagger to the heart.
Instead, Millwall will probably feel that pain. They had us exactly where they wanted us and couldn’t finish the job.
Perhaps that’s the biggest positive West Ham can take. This is a team which had won four consecutive Championship matches before arriving at The Den, including the 6-0 demolition of Wrexham, and even on an afternoon when so much went wrong, we still found a way to take something.
But I’m not coming away from this celebrating wildly. I’m pleased with the character, pleased Nuno changed it and pleased we found a way back. I’m also disgusted with that first-half performance.
West Ham won’t get promoted if they need 45 minutes to discover they’re in a fight.