West Ham United sit bottom of the Premier League table following a 2-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The Hammers fell behind in the first half when Alexis Mac Allister converted from the penalty spot after Thilo Kehrer fouled Danny Welbeck in the penalty box. The Seagulls secured victory in the second half through Leandro Trossard.
David Moyes’ side are now rock-bottom of the league standings after their first three games, still without a goal or a point in this season’s Premier League.
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Here are the talking points from a defeat that leaves the Irons with their first season of three straight league defeats from their opening three games since the 2018/19 campaign.
Winless runs continues
The search for the first points of the season continues, as does the search for a first league goal of the season as Brighton joined Manchester City and Nottingham Forest on the list of teams who have so far gotten the better of the Hammers this term.
There are plenty of similarities in how the game panned out to that of the 2-0 defeat at home to City 15 days ago. A bright spell, a sucker punch of a penalty to concede, individual errors and conceding a second on the counter when the Hammers had slowly made in-roads to getting a way back into the game.
However, unlike the defeat to City, the Hammers had more than enough of the ball and attacking play, especially early on, to go ahead in the game. Had it not been for lack of guilt-edge quality from the likes of Said Benrahma, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen, the Hammers could have found themselves ahead before Welbeck winning a penalty in the first half.
Just like the defeat to Forest, the Hammers now will look for a win over Viborg ahead of facing Aston Villa and hope that rotation in players and a boost in confidence can be picked up in order for Moyes’ side to get the season underway, albeit a bit too late for everyone’s liking.
Thilo Kehrer’s moment of madness
The only change from the defeat to Forest last weekend saw Thilo Kehrer make his full debut, just four days after signing from Paris Saint-Germain and less than three days after making his debut off the bench in the 3-1 first-leg win over Viborg.
In the opening quarter of the game and after one major flashpoint, there was not much wrong about his full debut against a Seagulls side who now sit fifth in the Premier League table after their opening three games of the season, but the one incident everyone will remember completely marred the good work he did.
As Kurt Zouma was caught out in possession high in Brighton’s half, the visitors countered and through Trossard’s running and directness, he laid off Welbeck, who, while he was going through on goal, was heading away from the target as opposed to straight towards it. However, a clever first touch and flick from the former Manchester United and Arsenal forward knocked it in front of himself, and Kehrer lunged in with a very late sliding challenge, with Welbeck fouled just inside the penalty area before Mac Allister coolly converted.
Barring that incident, Kehrer could not really be criticised, but one wrong decision will be more remembered than the fact he had a higher pass percentage than any other player in the game (excluding substitutes), made two interceptions and three clearances.
The rest of his performance against the Seagulls shows that he is likely to be a good signing, especially given the amount of experience he has under his belt already at the age of 25. However, it was not the best of starts to his West Ham career.
Lack of creativity and chances
For all of the issues scoring goals, the Hammers cannot really say they had too much in terms of clear-cut chances to really say they should have scored, making them the only side in England's top four leagues without a goal this season.
Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was only really worked on three occasions, all of which came in the second half. He first met a half chance from outside of the penalty area from Pablo Fornals before being forced into two diving saves to tip over two Tomas Soucek headers in quick succession.
Really though, West Ham’s best run of successive waves of attack came early on, in the portion of the game before Brighton’s opener. First, SBenrahma latched onto a stray back pass before shooting wide from the edge of the penalty area, before other chances and good passing moves failed to lead to anything, with the final action letting down the Hammers for the third league game in a row.
While against Forest last weekend, a list of six chances where the Hammers felt they could have scored could be produced, the closest you could say West Ham got was Soucek’s two late headers, and while Sanchez dived acrobatically for both, they were hardly golden chances that should have been goals.
As per WhoScored.com, West Ham ranked 14th in the league for most key passes (chances created) and over a third of them (9) have been “long,” the joint-highest in the league, meaning crosses and long passes. For short, close range, and clinical chances created, only Bournemouth (10) have produced fewer than West Ham’s 16, showing the lack of big chances big created.
Moyes will hope to be able to bed in Maxwel Cornet to add to his creativity and Gianluca Scamacca to convert big chances up front, but at the minute, going forward, West Ham are still looking short of being anywhere near their scoring prowesses from the last two campaigns.
Pablo Fornals’ omission
The No.10 role is Fornals’ for now, having twice started ahead of Manuel Lanzini against Forest and Brighton. During the defeat to the Seagulls, he looked the most likely to create something in the first hour. He forced Sanchez into a first save of the match in the second half.
However, shortly after his chance on the break, Scamacca was introduced from the bench, much to the delight of the home supporters. Although, it was perhaps a surprise that rather than being straight for Antonio, it was Fornals who came off, with Antonio briefly moving onto the left flank and Benrahma moving to the central role.
Fornals had been key in building a press in the attacking line behind Antonio with Benrahma and Bowen either side of the Spaniard, with only Declan Rice winning more interceptions than the 26-year-old.
However, it was baffling, both based on Fornals’ performance and for the team structure, that he was taken off first, especially with Antonio moving out to the left side, albeit not for long when Cornet and Lanzini were both introduced from the bench.
Injury issues worsen
Only Craig Dawson (thigh) and Nayef Aguerd (ankle) missed the tie, although the Hammers’ performance was not helped when right-back Vladimir Coufal was forced off through injury.
Moyes did not know the issue when speaking post-match, although he did say that he was confident that Coufal’s injury was not a major concern the club had.
With the trip to Viborg just three days away, Coufal was needed at left-back to cover the suspended Aaron Cresswell in the first leg, but injury could now rule the defender out of action.
Angelo Ogbonna’s return did help numbers, as does the arrival of Kehrer, but Johnson, who did well off the bench at right-back against Brighton and created one of the best chances the Hammers had, may again have to play in a makeshift position in midweek unless further reinforcements are acquired.
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