West Ham were atrocious against Queens Park Rangers. In fact, for much of the game we were comfortably the worse team, yet somehow we almost ended up winning it. Had Jarrod Bowen converted his late penalty, the Hammers would have walked away with three points from a performance that barely deserved one.
And that’s the frustrating thing. Escaping with a 1-1 draw against QPR at the London Stadium really isn’t good enough, particularly with the quality of players available to Nuno Espírito Santo. The Hammers had an opportunity to build some momentum following the international break, but instead produced another performance which raised more questions than answers.
The first half was an incredibly difficult watch. West Ham looked like a team that had been on holiday for three weeks, passing the ball around without any urgency or attacking purpose. QPR were well organised, but they weren’t doing anything particularly extraordinary. They simply made it difficult for us to play, and we had absolutely no answer.
West Ham’s Midfield Disappears
The most concerning aspect was our complete lack of midfield control. This wasn’t like the first half against Millwall, when West Ham were bullied and overwhelmed by physicality. Against QPR, we simply couldn’t produce enough quality to break down the opposition.
Tomáš Souček and Arne Engels struggled badly, while Divine Mukasa couldn’t get into the game. Jarrod Bowen was largely ineffective down the right and Taty Castellanos was so isolated that I almost felt sorry for him.
The only occasional attacking threat came from Manor Solomon and Morato down the left.
Of course, the referee didn’t help matters. Souček’s sloppy pass created the situation that led to QPR’s penalty, but his recovery tackle looked perfectly timed to me. Ruebyn Ricardo somehow awarded a spot-kick and then compounded his mistake by booking West Ham players and staff for protesting.
Nicolas Madsen duly converted, and the Hammers went into half-time trailing 1-0, having failed to register a single shot on target.
Pablo earned a penalty for West Ham
Piroe and QPR Substitution Change Everything
Nuno made changes at half-time, but it wasn’t until Joël Piroe and Lewis Orford were introduced that West Ham finally started looking like a team capable of winning the game.
Piroe immediately brought something different to our attacking play, combining with Castellanos and Bowen to give the QPR defence problems they hadn’t experienced all evening.
Just as importantly, QPR removed Kemper, who had spent much of the match keeping Bowen quiet. His replacement, Tariq Lamptey, subsequently picked up a knock and struggled badly against the West Ham captain.
Suddenly Bowen had space, West Ham had momentum and the entire complexion of the game changed.
Bowen equalised after 69 minutes and could easily have won it when Pablo was hauled down in the penalty area late on. Unfortunately, Joe Charles produced an excellent save from the resulting spot-kick, with the rebound striking the crossbar.
It’s difficult to know quite what to make of it. West Ham were dreadful for most of the evening, yet finished the stronger side and probably should have won.
Credit to Nuno for his substitutions, but once again I’m left wondering why it takes us so long to start playing football. We can’t keep relying on changes from the bench to rescue performances that should never have been so poor in the first place.
We need to be able to break down a defensive side and is Nuno the man to do it.
Nuno either has Alzheimer’s or is so stubborn he refuses to acknowledge that he is not always right. He seems never to learn from his frequent mistakes. Last season it was clearly demonstrated that Kilman is non league standard . His performances are laughable unless you are a Hammers fan. Walker -Peters is like a fish out of water… where was Veltman ?? Soucek has been a great servant but is way past a starting place especially after a long injury lay off.
His stubbornness has resulted in a number of our better players moving on and now Alvarez is bring frozen out . Last but not least Bowen is not a penalty taker . No variety, no power , no deception ,no hope . Nunos management will keep us in the Championship. Time to get rid while we are still in the race .
Thank goodness we had Souceck 🤣🤡
Gonzo I wrote a comment this morning about last night’s game yet it hasn’t been published maybe it was overlooked but this is not the first time this has happened.
Sorry I cannot message you directly but I’m not on X.
NUNO is absolutely the wrong manager.
Was that penalty not a sending off offence on the QPR player stopping a goal scoring opportunity, or is that a double jeopardy where you can’t be punished twice. I can’t remember the new laws, but it was on par with what Kante did at Millwall.
Soucek should have come off the bench at the end when all the balls were coming in, he would have been threatening.We just did not up the pace until the last 20 minutes and should have upped the pace more as their players, many of them we’re struggling badly with cramp.
Pablo, Orford and Piroe should all start and I think Taty perhaps needs to be benched.Walter-Peters and Soucek and even Masaka should be benched.
I have on concern, the players are trying to win the games on their own, they must start to use each other. Too many times chances are lost when players are being greedy and loosing the ball by not making the pass
So come on let’s start playing as a team again like the Wrexham game
Quite simply, we were out coached, out thought tactically and selected the wrong blend of players in the starting eleven.
For all of QPRs finely tuned out of possession excellence. They never really posed too much of a threat offensively.
Here’s my tuppence worth.
Our full back offer nothing offensively, especially on the left.
We rarely get behind any defence to cut the ball back with our opponents facing their own goal line.
We move the ball too slowly and our movements off of the ball are woeful mostly.
Apart from that, we look okay! Ish.
A few weeks ago we beat Wrexham 6-0 on a Friday night under the lights why Luno didn’t play the same side is beyond me! Everyone was up for a similar night except Luno
Not the game to throw a stagnant Soucek into.Surely the Subs ie Orford,Piroe and Pablo have to start vs Lincoln.No good when we only start playing for the last 20 mins.The midfield like last season was non existant and Lord it showed.Awful.
Nuno needs to realise the best form of defence is attack . Until he changes to a 4-2-4 we are staying in the championship.
Soucek sadly was way off the pace and in my view Pablo lo should have been on from the start to give us some physicality.
Credit to Nuno??? No, not for me. His passive tactics and shocking decision to start Soucek was the reason for last night’s shambles. We have the players and depth on the bench that we should be playing 2 up front in every game this season, no exceptions. Soucek was poor but has only played 1 friendly in 4/5 months; should have been on the bench with option to come on.