West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo has not been impressed by his side.placeholder image
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo has not been impressed by his side. | Getty Images
Brentford have looked comfortable against a lacklustre West Ham side at the London Stadium.
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo is looking to mark his first match in charge at the London Stadium with a win over Brentford but his side must come from behind to do that.
The Hammers started the London derby positively and threatened the Bees goal but that period of dominance lasted just 10 minutes before the visitors got a foothold in the game. An onslaught of chances followed for Keith Andrews’ men.
That threat was eventually converted into a goal by striker Igor Thiago after 43 minutes. It was a comedy of errors that led to that Brentford goal with Andy Irving, Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo all far too slow in reacting to what was happening as a long ball split the defence.
West Ham lack character against Brentford
Brentford then looked to have made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time as Thiago once again ran through the heart of the West Ham defence with no issue at all, chipping over Alphonse Areola as if it was a training session.
That goal was soon disallowed by VAR for offside, keeping the scores at 1-0 as the half-time whistle was blown. That was a needed relief for West Ham, but Nuno’s reaction between the ball hitting the back of the net and VAR intervening rang alarm bells.
A Premier League Match Centre statement read: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal to Brentford – and determined that Thiago was in an offside position and interfered with an opponent in the build-up, therefore recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
The former Nottingham Forest manager has the unenviable task of turning around the Hammers’ poor run of form following the sacking of Graham Potter. That is going to require a lot of motivation and bags of positivity.
Nuno downtrodden in worrying reaction to disallowed Brentford goal
So far, in press conferences, Nuno has been resilient in the face of adversity. However, as Thiago’s strike went over Areola, his body language was a far cry from that.
The Hammers boss tossed his arms into the air in a figure of hopelessness before kicking out at a water bottle to vent his frustration. Hands in his pocket and eyes to the ground, the 51-year-old trudged back to the dugout before rubbing his head and squinting at a replay of the goal.
There was a rare defeated air about Nuno at that moment. The manager’s reaction looked as if to say - ‘if my players are going to make errors like that, what more can I do?’.
The West Ham boss looks set to turn to former Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson in the second half, the talisman sent out onto the pitch to warm up in the break - with Konstantinos Mavropanos, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf brought on before the start of the second half.
Nuno had opted for 20-year-old Callum Marshall from the bench last time out against Arsenal in a head-turning decision, giving the rising star his Premier League debut. However, with West Ham needing to rid themselves of errors, the influence of the more experienced Wilson could prove valuable.
In other news, Why are there so many empty seats at West Ham v Brentford? David Sullivan protest explained.
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