Nuno’s West Ham Project Is Beginning To Look Fundamentally Flawed

West Ham’s 3-1 defeat against West Bromwich Albion was another deeply disappointing afternoon at the London bio, but I am increasingly convinced that the problems at this football club go far beyond individual players. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way this team is playing, and Nuno Espírito Santo is running out of excuses.

The Hammers were second best for large periods, struggled to retain possession, repeatedly exposed their own defence and looked painfully short of confidence. Jarrod Bowen’s excellent equaliser briefly offered some encouragement, but three avoidable goals and another disjointed performance eventually left home supporters heading for the exits before the final whistle.

What concerns me most is the lack of cohesion. We look like a collection of individuals rather than a properly functioning football team. West Ham cannot defend, cannot consistently pass the ball and look incredibly slow whenever opponents show a little bit of energy or attacking ambition.

West Brom Expose West Ham’s Midfield Problems

West Ham actually started reasonably well, winning a corner inside the opening 20 seconds. However, that early enthusiasm lasted barely a minute before West Brom began taking control.

Arne Engels had a particularly difficult opening ten minutes. He was dispossessed in midfield, struggled with his passing and repeatedly found himself on the wrong side of West Brom’s Ousmane Diakité. At times it looked like a mismatch, with Max Kilman having to step out of defence to compensate for problems in front of him.

There is a much bigger issue here than simply one midfielder having a bad afternoon. West Ham are frequently outnumbered in central areas and struggle to retain possession. Even relatively straightforward passes from deep positions can dissect our midfield and leave enormous gaps between the full-backs and centre-backs.

Divine Mukasa is another example of how badly we are utilising the players available. He is a technically gifted footballer, but spent far too much time dropping deep to collect the ball from the centre-backs. We are wasting his ability by making him come looking for possession rather than getting him further up the pitch to influence the game.

I have previously highlighted the potential of the Engels and Mukasa midfield combination, but there is little evidence of the fluidity and understanding that should be developing between these players.

Bowen Provides A Brief Respite

West Brom deservedly took the lead after 20 minutes when a long ball completely split the West Ham defence. Jimmy-Jay Morgan got in behind Kilman and Morato before squaring for Felix Horn Myhre to score.

It was embarrassingly easy. There was very little ingenuity involved, just one long ball and a complete failure to deal with the danger.

Morgan should have made it two shortly afterwards, blazing over when presented with another excellent opportunity. West Ham were fortunate not to be further behind, and the frustration around the London Stadium was becoming increasingly apparent.

Jarrod Bowen provided a moment of genuine quality on 29 minutes. Advancing into the penalty area, the West Ham captain produced an excellent right-footed finish to make it 1-1.

It was desperately needed because West Ham had been massively under the cosh. Bowen looked lively, showed some lovely footwork and was one of the few players attempting to make things happen.

But make no mistake about it, West Brom were comfortably the better team during that opening half-hour.

There was another important intervention from Kilman to prevent Diakité making it 2-1, while Kyle Walker-Peters occasionally looked dangerous going forward. Unfortunately, his defensive positioning was repeatedly exposing the right-hand side.

West Ham were not playing with anything resembling the authority of a home team. Supporters were becoming increasingly frustrated, and I found myself thinking that this was simply not bums-on-seats football.

Austbø Error And Another Defensive Collapse

The second half could hardly have started worse.

Within two minutes, West Ham had given away possession through a sloppy pass from Edvin Austbø. West Brom worked the ball forward, with Morgan once again getting the better of Airidas Golambeckis before finishing to make it 2-1.

I felt desperately sorry for Golambeckis because he had actually been one of West Ham’s better players during the opening stages. His reading of the game and anticipation had impressed me enormously, and he had produced some excellent one-on-one defending. That said, he did repeatedly drop 5 yards behind his defenders and played the opposition onside too frequently.

There is no escaping the fact that he was beaten for the goal. Equally, Austbø’s careless pass had handed West Brom the opportunity in the first place.

It was another example of a West Ham team that simply isn’t playing with confidence. Players look nervous in possession, passing becomes increasingly careless and mistakes are being punished.

To be fair, West Ham did attack regularly after going behind. Austbø continued to threaten down the left, and there was a noticeable improvement in the amount of possession the Hammers enjoyed in dangerous areas.

The problem was the lack of a cutting edge.

A Jarrod Bowen corner produced a good header from Kilman which was unlucky not to find the net, while Walker-Peters forced an excellent save with a powerful effort from distance after being found by Manor Solomon.

West Ham were getting into promising positions, but there was very little creativity through the middle. Almost all our attacking threat was coming from the wings.

Morato Makes A Complete Hash Of West Ham’s Afternoon

Just as West Ham appeared to be building some pressure, another dreadful defensive error effectively settled the game.

On 72 minutes, West Brom won a corner and Morato made a complete hash of his clearance. Rather than properly getting the ball away, he simply flicked a foot at it, producing virtually no distance and failing even to clear the penalty area.

Callum Styles collected the opportunity and struck a half-volley which bounced through a crowd of players before finding the net.

It was another horribly avoidable goal.

West Ham had enjoyed plenty of possession in the second half and were not necessarily short of attacking opportunities. But the defensive mistakes were proving catastrophic, and there was precious little evidence of a team capable of mounting a serious comeback.

Nuno Reverts To His Familiar Plan

Once again, when West Ham found themselves chasing a game, Nuno reverted to his familiar solution of introducing three centre-backs.

Kyle Walker-Peters had picked up an injury after being booked, and Joël Veltman came on alongside Tomáš Souček and Taty Castellanos. Nuno reshaped his side, withdrawing Golambeckis.

But it didn’t appear to cause West Brom too many problems. If anything, the visitors were left with plenty of opportunities to attack, while West Ham seemed to almost completely surrender control of midfield.

I struggle to understand what Nuno is trying to achieve with some of these tactical changes. There is a recurring pattern of West Ham falling behind, changing formation and then looking even less convincing as a team.

Souček barely featured, Castellanos was almost anonymous and his two efforts from distance hardly suggested a striker desperate to rescue his team. One particularly ambitious attempt sailed so high it had a better chance of ending up between the posts at Twickenham than troubling the West Brom goalkeeper.

West Ham supporters began streaming out of the London Stadium with ten minutes still remaining.

West Ham Have A Much Bigger Problem

I don’t believe this can simply be explained away by pointing at individual players. Yes, there were some dreadful performances and some equally dreadful mistakes, but there is something inherently wrong with this team.

We have no confidence and no cohesion. We struggle to pass the ball, we struggle to defend and we look painfully slow. It doesn’t take particularly good opposition to cause us problems. Anyone with a little bit of effervescence or vibrancy seems capable of making life extremely uncomfortable for West Ham.

I cannot fault Pablo and Mohamadou Kanté for their effort, and I suspect Kanté could develop into an effective footballer. But the attacking partnership was thoroughly uninspiring and never looked particularly threatening.

There is also a question about the way Nuno is managing this squad. The constant changes, the formations and the apparent inability to settle on a system are not helping matters. I would genuinely be intrigued to see what another coach could achieve with these players.

West Ham have sold a considerable number of players and rebuilt much of the squad. There is an argument that the manager needs time, but there is also an expectation that a team containing this much Championship quality should be considerably more convincing than this.

The supporters are entitled to expect better.

Plans to improve the atmosphere at the London Stadium with fan zones and dedicated singing sections are all well and good. But if the team is going to play like this, it will be a futile exercise.

We stand on the precipice at the moment. The club, the manager and the players all have serious questions to answer.

And after another afternoon like this, I am not sure any of them have provided particularly convincing answers.