By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham are second in the Championship. Quite frankly, we are lucky to be in that position considering the way the Hammers started the game at The Den.
Clearly, West Ham rescued the situation with a far more committed second-half performance. It left me wondering what exactly was said at half-time to wake the players up and make them realise they were playing in a derby.
Perhaps the more important question, however, is what wasn’t said before the game?
West Ham were bullied by Millwall
Millwall may have provided the blueprint
Millwall’s intensity, fight and bite appeared to surprise almost everyone in that West Ham team. As I wrote in my post-match reaction, the Lions did absolutely nothing unexpected, yet Nuno’s players looked completely unprepared for it.
Hopefully, it was just a one-off. However, there must be a concern that Millwall’s tenacity has provided the rest of the Championship with a blueprint for how to unsettle West Ham.
Get in our faces, compete for everything, deny us time on the ball and see whether the technical quality disappears. It certainly did during an appalling first half, as reflected in the player ratings from The Den.
It’s worth remembering just how different this looked from the 6-0 demolition of Wrexham. Given time and space, West Ham’s attacking players looked almost impossible to contain. Millwall denied them both and, for 45 minutes at least, we had no answer.
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swansea | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| 2 | West Ham | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| 3 | Middlesbrough | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| 4 | West Brom | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14 |
| 5 | QPR | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| 6 | Stoke City | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| 7 | Bristol City | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| 8 | Charlton | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| 9 | Wolves | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| 10 | Birmingham | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
Second place isn’t too bad at all
All that being said, second place at the first opportunity to draw breath in what will be a hectic Championship season ain’t too bad at all. West Ham have 15 points from eight games and currently occupy an automatic promotion position, despite producing a first half at The Den which was probably as bad as anything we’ve served up this season.
That should provide some perspective. This wasn’t a disaster and the comeback demonstrated that there is plenty of character and quality in Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad, even when things go badly wrong.
But if the Hammers have serious designs on staying in that top two and securing automatic promotion, they must wake up and realise this is a league in which everybody has to battle and earn the right to play.
We have excellent footballers capable of rescuing games, as they demonstrated against Millwall. But West Ham cannot lose sight of the basics and fundamentals — or forget to compete.
If Nuno’s boys are drawn into a war, they must at least be ready to fight fire with fire.
Same story under Moyes, we don’t start fast enough, ironically when Pablo plays he creates enough intensity that we often score first and the game is different and I know you don’t see it but maybe you should look at him differently instead of measuring him by goals scored or aesthetics.
He ain’t that player and never will be, defenders hate him, if you watch his movement it’s subtle but brilliant always finds space between defenders that occupies more than one creating space. He will score goals especially if we play just him up top some games.
Back on topic why wasn’t Noble doing a team talk for this to get them motivated and switched on…?
Look, learn and listen.
Next time it will be at LS but they won’t be playing NINE of their backup players.
Whu were lucky that Millwall were so depleted.
Nino needs to stop kidding himself that backline is proficient.
Mavro is able when partnered with somebody capable and Morato is not a left back.
Boiro needs some game time as Scarles has indecisive games.
Very poor first half and a much better second half
My take is this. Play poorly but still get something out of the game shows there is a decent team there
COYI
We have a good CB in Golumbeckis. Nuno needs to trust the lad and play him alongside the Greek Freak and bench Kilman forever. PLEASE.
After watching the replay about 4or 5 times I cant see how Taty could reach Marscall and lt land on his head from this far away it looks to be at least 2 metres away and so if there is to be an enquiry how about if Taty is not guilty of spitting how about Millwall’s goalkeeper being charged with misleading the referee because if Paul Tierney did not believe him WHU would have had a goal scoring chance denied and Marscall should get a ban which I cannot see happening
After watching the replay about 4or 5 times I cant see how Taty could reach Marscall and lt land on his head from this far away it looks to be at least 2 metres away and so if there is to be an enquiry how about if Taty is not guilty of spitting how about Millwall’s goalkeeper being charged with misleading the referee because if Paul Tierney did not believe him WHU would have had a goal scoring chance denied and Marscall should get a ban which I cannot see happening
After watching the replay about 4or 5 times I cant see how Taty could reach Marscall and lt land on his head from this far away it looks to be at least 2 metres away and so if there is to be an enquiry how about if Taty is not guilty of spitting how about Millwall’s goalkeeper being charged with misleading the referee because if Paul Tierney did not believe him WHU would have had a goal scoring chance denied and Marscall should get a ban
After watching the replay about 4or 5 times icant see how Taty could reach Marscall and lt land on his head from this far away it looks to be at least 2 metres away and so if there is to be an enquiry how about if Taty is not guilty of spitting how about Millwalls goalkeeper being charged with misleading the referee because if Paul Tierney did not beleve him WHU would have had a goal scoring chance denied and Marscall should get a ban
Let’s enjoy us winning most games for a change. If we do go up I don’t think I can stand another relegation battle again!!
I don’t think 4-4-2 will always work for Nuno. In a game like that I would always like to see 3 central midfielders, it may have been a chance to see Magassa or at least Orford to wrestle control from Millwall
What were they doing in training? The back four should been doing drills, where they were hounded and closed down, man on man. It was so obvious this was how Millwall would play it. Anyone who knows anything about this fixture would know what to expect. Pathetic planning by Nuno and the coaching team. And now every other team knows our big weakness xx
As ever was; as far as West Ham are concerned ! I have been a supporter for 68 years. I have seen it all (too often) before ! However, hope springs eternal; I do believe we can get promoted – but NOT playing like that ! West Ham’s failings over all those years ? Teams which attack them, run at them, fight for every ball. Against those sort of teams, we usually end up second best. We CANNOT afford for that to continue. Oh, one other failing – we have far too frequently had to play our games without fielding a defence. No difference yesterday !
Why don’t we just enjoy being up the top end of the league and having a massive goal difference and not having lost a game of football for a very long time.
No Championship team can maintain that level of intensity for more than 45 minutes so not sure it is a blueprint to beat us. Crosses or through balls towards Kilman is a different matter however!