ree
West Ham United (0) 0 v Brentford (1) 2
Igor Thiago 43
By Kaz Mochlinski at the London Stadium
Premier League
Matchweek 8
Brilliant Brentford produced their best performance under Keith Andrews to beat a woeful West Ham United, who were overwhelmed amid an ever-worsening atmosphere of increasing negativity around the London Stadium.
The Bees added to the Hammers’ troubled start to the season with goals from Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen at the end of each half, rewarding a dominant display that could easily have produced a greater margin of victory.
The battering by Brentford might well have been much more comprehensive if the Bees had not unluckily seen a goal disallowed by the VAR immediately before half-time for a very marginal offside, and also hit the crossbar twice, once in either half.
It made for an extremely uncomfortable welcome to West Ham’s new head coach Nuno Espírito Santo, whose first home match since replacing Graham Potter was played in front of large numbers of empty seats, with loud booing at the final whistle.
Brentford’s first away win of the campaign left West Ham stuck in the relegation places after losing all four of the London derbies that kicked off their home schedule, having already succumbed to defeats by Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace.
The Hammers had never before been beaten in each of their first four games of any league season. Four points after eight matches is also the lowest in their history in the top division, level with just the 1973-74 and 1988-89 seasons.
The 12 goals let in by the Hammers in these games is their worst for 60 years, equalling the highest number of goals they have ever conceded in the opening league fixtures on their own ground, previously reached only in 1962-63 and 1965-66.
In all, West Ham have now lost five consecutive home matches in the top flight for the first time in 94 years, having just once before in their history suffered such a sequence of humbling results, towards the conclusion of the 1930-31 season.
With fan protests escalating, the unhappiness surrounding West Ham can hardly be prevented from having an adverse impact on performances, particularly the boycott called for this game. But few expected the players to join in it.
The Hammers did not have a single shot on goal as they forlornly sought a second half comeback, and had only one attempt on target in the whole of the match, inevitably from their captain and solitary outstanding player, Jarrod Bowen.
ree
Since West Ham had lost each of their three prior home games, and Brentford had been beaten in all three away matches, something had to change in this Monday night meeting of the capital’s two lowest-placed top flight clubs.
West Ham, down in 19th in the Premier League, had the chance to move out of the relegation zone and go level on points with Brentford, who were 16th at kick-off. But it was the Bees whose line-up looked much more impressively brave and positive.
Andrews reunited the front four of Mikkel Damsgaard, Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago, while Nuno perplexingly played Lucas Paquetá as a “false number nine”, like Julen Lopetegui, his Hammers predecessor and fellow ex-Wolves boss.
With Bowen being by far his team’s best attacking option, the selection made no sense to West Ham regulars. Nor did playing Crysencio Summerville, Mateus Fernandes, Andrew Irving, Kyle Walker-Peters and Ollie Scarles all out of position.
Summerville started in the “number 10” role, Fernandes on the left wing, and Irving as a holding midfielder, with the two full-backs being switched over to the opposite side of the one that is natural for them and which they are used to.
Unsurprisingly, it did not work, and West Ham quickly crumbled. Nuno tried to correct it with a triple substitution at half-time, changing formation to a back four, which he had reportedly trialled in a behind-closed-doors training game against Ipswich Town.
However, finally implementing it in this case was too late, when his team were already behind and seemingly with their confidence completely broken. It may have provided some damage limitation in terms of the score, but not in the manner of a dismal defeat.
ree
West Ham United: (4-2-3-1) Areola - Scarles (Diouf 46), Todibo, Kilman, Walker-Peters (Wan-Bissaka 46) - Souček (Rodríguez 71), Irving (Marshall 61) - Bowen, Summerville, Fernandes (Mavropanos 46) - Paquetá
Brentford: (4-2-3-1) Kelleher - Kayode, Collins, van den Berg, Ajer - Yarmoliuk, Henderson (Jensen 90) - Ouattara (Lewis-Potter 75), Damsgaard (Janelt 75), Schade - Igor Thiago
Attendance: n/a