By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham lead Portsmouth 2-1 at half-time in their Carabao Cup clash at the London Stadium, having recovered from a sluggish start to turn the game around late in the half.
Pompey won a corner inside the opening minute, with Mads Hermansen coming to claim somewhat unconvincingly, and the visitors only had to wait another 30 seconds for their next.
Portsmouth had much the better of the early exchanges and Konstantinos Mavropanos could consider himself fortunate when referee Adam Herczeg ruled that Pompey No.9 Colby Bishop had fouled him when seemingly through on goal.
Nuno Espírito Santo set West Ham up in a very rigid 4-3-3 without the ball, with many supporters perhaps surprised to see both Lewis Orford and Edson Álvarez in the starting XI.
It was the Mexican who registered West Ham’s first effort on target, heading a Jarrod Bowen corner comfortably into the goalkeeper’s hands.
Pompey Punish Passive Hammers
Orford looked comfortable and won a couple of important challenges, while Mohamadou Kanté attempted to give West Ham some balance by drifting wide from his left-sided midfield role.
For all Portsmouth’s early endeavour, there was a real lack of quality in their final ball. Unfortunately, West Ham’s willingness to surrender possession eventually told.
Pompey won their fourth corner on 31 minutes and although Max Kilman headed the initial delivery clear, there wasn’t a West Ham midfielder anywhere near the second ball.
Adrian Segečić controlled it before unleashing a fine effort from around 25 yards which took a deflection off Álvarez and beat Hermansen to make it 1-0.
West Ham players surround Nuno during an unwelcome drinks break
Two Goals Change Everything
West Ham finally responded ten minutes later.
Sublime skill from Kanté saw him swivel away from two Portsmouth defenders before sliding a precise pass through to Taty Castellanos, who side-footed beautifully into the top corner.
Suddenly the momentum completely changed.
A run from Pablo was halted, but Bowen picked up the scraps and rifled a long-range effort home via a deflection.
From being second best for much of the opening half, West Ham somehow head into the dressing room 2-1 ahead.
They’ll need to be considerably better after the break, but for now Nuno’s men have done the important bit and turned the game around.
And a hydration break!
It has been rubbish. The score line doesn’t tell just how bad West Ham have been.
Weve been awful