West Ham United suffered a 2-0 home defeat against Premier League rivals Brentford ahead of their visit to Leeds United.
West Ham United suffered another blow ahead of their visit to Leeds United when they produced a poor performance in a 2-0 home defeat against Brentford on Monday night.
The Hammers failed to impress in the first home game of Nuno Espirito Santo’s managerial reign as a first-half goal from Igor Thiago and a late strike from Denmark international Mathias Jensen gave the visitors all three points at the London Stadium.
The result has lifted Brentford into thirteenth place in the Premier League table and has left West Ham in the relegation zone with just one win from their first eight games of the season. The defeat also means Nuno’s side are now all but certain to remain in the bottom three for at least another week as only a win, a big swing in goal difference and defeats for Nottingham Forest and Burnley would move them above the dotted line.
On a night when some West Ham fans protested against the club’s ownership by holding a boycott of the game, Nuno delivered a withering assessment of his side’s performance and the fan reaction to the defeat and stressed there must be ‘a big improvement’ ahead of their visit to Elland Road.
He told BBC Sport: "Not good enough. Poor. Fairly Brentford won the game, they were the better team. I think we are all concerned. You can see our own fans are concerned. Concern becomes anxiety, becomes silence. That anxiety passes to the players. We have a problem.
"It's understandable. It's up to us to change. The fans need to see something that pleases them and they can support us and give us energy. I understand it, I understand it totally, and I respect it. It's up to us, it's up to us to change it. We are the people who have to pull the fans back together. It's a challenge for all of us. It's up to us to change the momentum and bring our fans back to support us. In four days' time we need a big improvement."
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