Perhaps it was inevitable that Brentford’s first away win of the season would come in the Premier League’s unhappiest and least intimidating ground.
The many West Ham fans who displayed their displeasure with the board by boycotting this fixture had the right idea. They could celebrate their decision not to subject themselves to an unspeakably abysmal performance from Nuno Espírito Santo’s muddled team. West Ham, who have started a league campaign with four successive defeats at home for the first time in their history, were shambolic. They created nothing, made bizarre substitutions, defended terribly and had accepted their fate long before Mathias Jensen, with Brentford’s 22nd shot of a horribly one-sided contest, made it 2-0 deep into added time.
The mood was one of muted resignation. Apathy has gripped West Ham. Can Nuno, who is yet to win since replacing Graham Potter last month, rouse them? The early evidence is unconvincing. This was as bad as anything under Potter. West Ham were painfully passive from start to finish, remain overly reliant on Jarrod Bowen and will undoubtedly go down unless there is a major improvement in their defending.
Brentford, who are making encouraging strides 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, though, thought back to his side throwing away leads at Fulham and Sunderland. “You want that second goal to make life comfortable,” he said. “We’ve been there on the road before. But I did feel pretty comfortable.”
