Thiago's goal deepens West Ham's gloom as Brentford triumph amid fan boycott
It seemed almost inevitable that Brentford's first away win of the season would come at the Premier League's least intimidating ground. West Ham's fans, who boycotted the game in protest, were right to celebrate their decision. West Ham's performance was abysmal, with a muddled team that failed to create anything, made bizarre substitutions, and defended terribly. The team's fate was sealed long before Mathias Jensen's goal in added time, Brentford's 22nd shot of a one-sided contest.
The mood was one of resignation, with apathy gripping the team. Nuno Espírito Santo, who has yet to win since replacing Graham Potter, is struggling to rouse the team. Early evidence suggests that West Ham's performance was as bad as anything under Potter, with the team overly reliant on Jarrod Bowen and in danger of going down unless there is a major improvement in their defending.
Brentford, under Keith Andrews, should have had a hatful. Igor Thiago opened the scoring and bullied Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman during the first half. Mikkel Damsgaard, Yehor Yarmolyuk, and Jordan Henderson controlled midfield. Andrews, however, was mindful of his team's tendency to throw away leads, saying, 'You want that second goal to make life comfortable.'
By the end, West Ham were reduced to Lucas Paquetá hoofing aimless up-and-unders in the vague direction of Brentford's area. The team has wasted a lot of money, with Callum Marshall, a raw 20-year-old, filling in up front. Callum Wilson, signed on a free transfer last summer, watched from the bench for the third successive game. Nuno suggested there was no issue with the forward, but he was more expansive on his worries about his side losing individual duels.
Nuno, who admitted West Ham are a long way from developing an identity, considered whether the atmosphere is affecting his players. He said, 'We try to ignore it. We try to make them comfortable, but we cannot hide ourselves. Mentally, it’s one of the aspects that we have to solve.'
The sight of row after row of empty seats was humiliating for West Ham's owners. The opening stages were eerily quiet, with fans too busy trying to work out Nuno's starting lineup to make any noise. Using Ollie Scarles and Kyle Walker-Peters as overlapping full-backs was a mistake, and Paquetá as a false 9 backfired. There was also a rare start in midfield for Andy Irving, who made his home debut a mere 780 days after joining the club.
Nuno said, 'The idea was that we had to work together, be compact.' However, the reality was that Brentford carved out chances at will. Every set piece caused problems. Dango Ouattara, a lively presence on the right, and Thiago were guilty of poor misses before Brentford finally went ahead in the 43rd minute. Kilman, £40m badly spent, failed to deal with a lofted pass from Yarmolyuk, and Kevin Schade nipped in to tee up Thiago, whose shot squirmed past Alphonse Areola.
Brentford were denied a second just before half-time, Thiago offside when he beat Areola again. West Ham adjusted for the second half, with Nuno switching to a back three, but the level remained low. Passes were overhit, and the gaps at the back grew bigger. Schade headed against the bar when it seemed easier to score. Eventually, two substitutes combined, Keane Lewis-Potter breaking down the right and setting up Jensen to score emphatically. Not once had West Ham looked likely to equalise, and they finished with 10 men after Konstantinos Mavropanos went down with a muscle problem.
Nuno had made all his substitutions, and there were boos when Guido Rodríguez, a defensive midfielder, replaced Tomas Soucek with 20 minutes left. Welcome to east London, Nuno. It’s too late to change your mind now.
