West Ham’s miserable Premier League campaign continued with a defeat at Leeds on Friday which ensured their worst start to a season for 52 years.
The result was their third consecuitve defeat under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who remains winless since replacing Graham Potter in September.
The Hammers, who sit 19th in the table, have recorded just one win this season and ironically it arrived against Nottingham Forest, when Nuno was in charge at the City Ground.
A dismal return of just four points in total represents West Ham’s joint-worst at this stage of a league campaign, with the club replicating that tally in the second tier in 1932-33 and 1973-74, when they finished bottom.
Having been appointed with the task of making sure West Ham don’t suffer a relegation that would leave them outside the top flight for the first time since 2011-12, Nuno, who took a point in his first match against Everton, is struggling to find answers.
“There is many problems in our club unfortunately. It is not up to us to hide ourselves behind the problems. Everyone has to be alive and to do much more and be in the right position,” said the Portuguese.
“We were not dealing with our defensive situations and I felt like we needed a striker to hold the ball, so maybe that’s not the greatest from me.
“These kind of mistakes are unacceptable in the Premier League.”
Nuno, also the first West Ham boss to fail to record a win from any of his first four Premier League games since Manuel Pellegrini in September 2018, added: “There is quality there, there is time, but nothing will happen if we don’t change.
“We must change our attitude, we must change the way we approach things, we must commit ourselves better, prepare better, work harder.
“All the things – that is the reality. We don’t expect things to change by themselves. Realising we have time can be a mistake if we don’t change things around quickly.”
Defensive and tactical woes leave West Ham ‘in trouble’
While only Nottingham Forest and Wolves – two clubs also occupying spots in the bottom three – have scored less goals in the top flight this term, the Hammers biggest problem is at the other end of the pitch.
The London club have already conceded 20 times this season – four more than bottom side Wolves.
Nine of those have arrived from corners, which is triple the amount of any other side (Aston Villa, Fulham and Leeds are all on three) and is the most any team has conceded in that manner in the history of the competition at this stage of the season.
Coupled with that, former West Ham and England goalkeeper Rob Green questioned the wisdom of Nuno’s tactical approach in recent games, with the decision to start Ollie Scarles and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the opposite sides to their favoured full-back positions, clearly backfiring.
“It was a repeat form Monday night [a loss to Brentford], a shape we didn’t understand, inverted full-backs, full-backs on wrong side – it didn’t work on Monday and they did it again?,” Green told Sky Sports.
“I don’t understand how you can make five substitutions and have a better XI and better shape than what you started with. None of it is making any sense.
“They’re in trouble, this is perilous, we have seen teams go on these losing runs and disappear out of the Premier League.”
‘We’re in a real situation’
Collectively West Ham covered just over 6km less than Leeds on Friday night.
More alarming was their response to conceding two goals within 15 minutes.
As Leeds grew in confidence, the visitors appeared drained and only came back into the contest too late to eke out a point.
“A dressing room when you’re second bottom of the league is low,” West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen told Sky Sports.
“The only way this will change is if we step up and show some fight. We need more of that. It’s easy to hide and be scared almost. It’s easier said and harder to do sometimes.
“Roll your sleeves up and dig in. No-one will give this to us. We’re in a real situation and we have to face the reality of that. You have to face up to the reality of where we are and we’re in trouble now.
“The Premier League is the hardest league. We’re not playing well and not getting results. We need to change it. We’re the only ones that can change it.”
Source: BBC