Same old issues for West Ham as Nuno Espirito Santo's experiment fails in Brentford defeat | OneFootball

Portuguese head coach had rung the changes on his home debut

The size of the task facing Nuno Espirito Santo was laid bare as West Ham fell to a 2-0 defeat by Brentford, amidst the backdrop of a supporter boycott, in his first home game in charge.

Crysencio Summerville, praised by Nuno in his pre-match comments for his speed and aggression in one-on-one situations, led a brief early charge for West Ham, without a point at home this season.

The movement of Summerville and Paqueta had given West Ham fans reason to feel that they might be turning a corner, but soon after Brentford took control and should have taken the lead after Igor Thiago’s close range effort hit the crossbar.

Set-pieces remain an issue for the east Londoners and whilst they weathered an onslaught of deliveries from Brentford, chances came and went for the visitors which they really ought to have taken. By the 34-minute mark, the Bees had taken 13 shots to West Ham’s one.

Club chairman David Sullivan watched on. He would have been quietly pleased with West Ham’s resolve if not their quality, but after Thiago finally gave Brentford the lead in the 43rd minute, the inevitable sea of fans heading for the concourse highlighted familiar failings on a night that was supposed to represent a fresh start. It took until first-half stoppage time for West Ham to have their first shot on target.

Nuno, whose blushes were spared by VAR ruling out a second Thiago goal just before the half-time whistle, had made five changes, bringing in Andy Irving for his first home Premier League start since signing for West Ham 780 days ago, as well as Jean-Clair Todibo, left out of the matchday squad against Everton and Arsenal.

By half-time he was left looking to his bench for answers, remodelling his entire defence by reverting to a back five and bringing on Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Irving’s selection was surprising, the 25-year-old having made just 15 appearances for West Ham, and he departed the pitch just past the hour mark with no-one any the wiser as to why the manager had called upon him to anchor the midfield.

Nuno had attempted to experiment, playing natural left-back Ollie Scarles at right-back with the versatile Kyle Walker-Peters on the left. Are those the first signs of the ‘West Ham way’ that Nuno is desperately searching to define?

Hardly. 45 minutes was all it took, with Scarles and Walker-Peters withdrawn, before the hosts were back to firefighting; their quest for identity shelved once again as they tried to stave off more Brentford pressure after the restart.

It was only the visitors’ profligacy that had kept West Ham in the game, a result of any kind for the Hammers would have been scandalous - they had just 14 touches to Brentford’s 43 in the opposition box, and Mathias Jensen sealed the three points for Andrews’ side with a well taken goal right at the death.

Nuno was left ashen-faced at the full-time whistle. An international break, a new head coach, but the same old issues for West Ham.