On the journey home after West Ham United’s 2-0 loss to Brentford I was trying to digest what I had just witnessed. One shot on target cannot be described as progress compared to the previous game’s zero. Just four touches in the opposition box and a meagre 43.3% possession painted a portrait of a team struggling to find its rhythm, identity, and confidence.
The most glaring takeaway from the Brentford loss wasn’t just the lack of attacking threat, it was how disjointed the team appeared. Passes were misplaced, transitions were sluggish, and the attempt to play out from the back was quickly abandoned. When they did try, it often resulted in turnovers that left goalkeeper Alphonse Areola exposed and under pressure.
This wasn’t just a tactical failure, it was symptomatic of a deeper malaise.
The squad looked bereft of belief, and the cohesion that once defined West Ham under David Moyes has evaporated. Since Moyes’ departure, the club has undergone significant changes both in the dressing room and behind the scenes. But rather than ushering in a new era, these changes have left the team adrift like the Titanic heading straight for an iceberg.
While the team struggled in the latter stages of Moyes’ tenure, and I won’t echo the media’s “be careful what you wish for” narrative, it’s hard to imagine any West Ham fan not longing for a ninth-place finish or even a chance at European football.
Manager Nuno Espírito Santo finds himself in a precarious, exposed position. Without a backroom staff of his choosing, he’s been forced to rely on academy coaches, from within the club. Football is ruthless, and the Premier League even more so. Nuno deserves the opportunity to build a support team that aligns with his philosophy and experience. With Sean Dyche’s imminent arrival at Nottingham Forest, there’s speculation that Nuno may reunite with former colleagues, potentially injecting some much-needed stability. What is certain is David Sullivan won’t be paying compensation to prise them away.
Nuno has a huge task at West Ham
Next up: Leeds United away. It’s a fixture that could either compound West Ham’s woes or offer a lifeline. Nuno now fully understands the scale of the challenge. Confidence won’t return overnight, it must be earned through results. But to get those results, the stats must shift dramatically. More shots, more possession, more presence in the box, these are non-negotiable if West Ham is to claw its way back from the brink.
The club’s current trajectory is unsustainable. The club needs clarity, leadership, and unity on and off the pitch. If not, the impact of this decline could be colossal. We the fans deserve better, and the players must rise to the occasion.
Many of us saw this coming last season, a 14th place finish only served to disguise the troubles that were about to unfold
The iceberg is looming. Whether West Ham steers clear or crashes headlong into disaster depends on what happens next.
Nuno seems a pretty pragmatic guy – other than the bizarre full back flank swap, the idea of giving your fringe players a go against a lower team, challenging them to take the chance and make it theirs, is not a terrible strategy. Unfortunately it completely backfired, and we now have a few more players added to the list of those who definitely won’t be dragging us out of this hole.
Our best bet now would be Soucek in a 1-man defence (to stick his iron skull in front of any ball or boot that comes near the box), have Bowen and Summerville sprinting up and down the wings like yoyos and just fill the rest of the positions with some of those concrete plant pots from the Olympic Park.
I do feel sorry for the players in a way. Some of them were part of Moyes low block / counter attacking tactic, then had attack at all costs and forget defence under Lopetegui. Then it was defence at all costs and forget about attacking under Potter and now we are back to low block/ counter attacking. If any of our jobs changed like that within 2 years I think we might have a problem performing as well
We don’t have a Premier League-worthy striker so how are we going to score goals? Nuno had Jimenez at Wolves, Kane at Spurs and Wood at Forest, all banging in goals regularly. Now he has Marshall, who just isn’t ready, Wilson, who is past his prime and a perma-injured Fullkrug who doesn’t even do anything when he IS fit. Oh, and our defence is terrible!! The only way i can see us getting out of this one is if there are three worse teams than us. Right now Wolves and Leeds are looking pretty ropey. Problem is, we’re looking just as bad, if not worse.
Last nights team selection was bizarre, add to that a left back playing right back & a right back playing left back? Is all this a conspiracy to get us relegated asap? Loopy Lope ain’t still pulling the strings for afar is he? ☹️. This seasons got relegation written all over it. Rob ⚒⚒⚒
One word really resonated with me last night and it came from the away manager when he said his team played with “courage”.
I think that is the one word that can and should be levied at this West Ham squad – forget all the tactics in the world, the deficiencies in their abilities, the cohesion or lack thereof, or any of the other issues we’ve seen and identified. You can’t plug that many holes overnight in a rapidly sinking ship.
What you can do is start demanding that they play with courage. That for me has to be the starting point. Forget everything, and play with courage. Be prepared to make mistakes. If you can’t be prepared to play with courage at this elite level and find the inner strength to summon it, then you should definitely not be playing. Its easier said than done, but somehow Nuno has to compel them to find it, otherwise as they showed last night, they look lost and there will be no way back.
One final note about playing with courage – its incredibly difficult under the circumstances to find that courage and one thing stood out last night. There wasn’t a single leader in that team that was demanding more of his peers, pulling them together and encouraging those that were “green” at this level. Finding that person in that squad is a major challenge, but they need to find someone who can do it because it’s crucial to any team sport to have leaders that can carry the burden of driving improvement.
you are right. Any leaders of a team are gone, be it in midfield (Noble, Rice) or defence (Dawson, Collins,…) & you can keep going back in time to find these types of players in all WHU teams. Usually you’ll see one in midfield, with also one organizing the defence.
I honestly believe the only way to unite the club and save it is for Sullivan & Brady just both step down until a buyer can be found. The toxic they bring to the whole club will def end in relegation
So, should we start a “Nuno Out” campaign ?
Wait til Christmas Al least! 🤣🤣🤣
No matter how bad we was we was still only 1 nil down for most of the game but those that had turned up started leaving long before the final whistle. With a full and enthusiastic crowd urging the boys on who knows how it might have been different. No one would have walked out if only one nil down in the old days.