Nottingham Forest suffered a shocking 0-3 defeat at home against West Ham in their third game of the ongoing English Premier League season. They had started well with a 3-1 win over Brentford in the opener and followed it with a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace away. But when they were expected to continue their unbeaten run at the City Ground, three late goals from West Ham handed them a heavy defeat.
With this loss, Forest head into the international break sitting joint ninth with four points from three matches. Goalkeeper Matz Sels made some fine saves, and for a long time it looked like the game might end goalless. But late strikes from Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paquetá (penalty), and Callum Wilson sealed a humiliating result for the hosts.
After the game, manager Nuno Espírito Santo sounded clearly upset. He admitted things went wrong after halftime and also confirmed he will speak with the club owner, Evangelos Marinakis, in the coming days.
Marinakis was in the stands at the City Ground but saw a poor display from his side. Questions over Nuno’s future had already been raised before the match, and now a serious discussion with the owner is expected during the break.
“We are all upset”
Nuno said his players were in control in the first half but fell apart after the interval.
"I'm upset. I’m very upset. We are all upset. The players are upset, we are upset, our fans are upset. First half, we were dominant and in control. There was a lack of urgency, and we were too slow, but we were in control.
"Second half was totally different. We started committing mistakes and getting punished for them, were unbalanced and there were gaps. It was a very bad second half and a bad performance.
“It is very frustrating. We started the season well and had a good feeling about this game. There were things we should have done better,” he said.
The Portuguese coach gave credit to the visitors but stressed that Forest must take responsibility.
*"It was unexpected. Now it is our job to figure out the reason behind it and make sure it doesn’t happen again because it was really bad. Credit to West Ham. But the main responsibility is ourselves and the mistakes we made,”* he added.
“We are going to speak”
Nuno confirmed that he and Marinakis will hold talks, but insisted his main focus remains on improving the team.
“We are going to speak because there are things to address,” Nuno said. “My job now is more about the team. I am really worried about the team because it was shocking today. Today doesn’t help. Everybody at Forest is very sad and upset, but there is no connection between these things. We will try to separate them and move forward in the right direction,” Nuno said.