Sky Sports pundit blasts West Ham star in horrific moment vs Leeds United – ‘cannot believe it’
West Ham United travelled to Leeds United for a relegation six-pointer at Elland Road.
The Hammers were looking to end a winless four-match run in the Premier League since Nuno Espirito Santo replaced Graham Potter at the London Stadium.
Last time out, West Ham were beaten by Brentford on Monday Night Football, with Jamie O’Hara feeling they’re sleepwalking into the Championship.
Nuno would have ordered his players to bounce back against Leeds, but his side got off to a horrific start by conceding twice in the opening 15 minutes.
Set-pieces have been West Ham’s Achilles heel all season, and whilst the arrival of Nuno was supposed to improve their fortunes, they’ve worsened.
Lucas Paqueta criticised during Leeds vs West Ham
Brenden Aaronson opened the scoring for Leeds as a result of a set-piece, and that was shortly followed by a header from Joe Rodon.
On the first, the Hammers didn’t react to the second ball as Aaronson cashed in after Noah Okafor’s strike was saved.
Whereas on the second, it was a Sean Longstaff corner that found the head of Rodon, who moved away from Lucas Paqueta with ease to nod home.
Speaking on Sky Sports coverage of the match, commentator Alan Smith slammed Paqueta’s role in the goal, stating he was beaten ‘fairly easily’.
“You cannot believe it. You cannot. They must be working on it in training?” Smith said.
“It’s about attitude and wanting to get there first. Rodon doesn’t have to do much at all, he cannot believe his luck. He beats Paqueta fairly easily.”
How many goals West Ham have conceded from set pieces
“We conceded set pieces, a lot of them – too much,” Nuno said on Wednesday about the Brentford display. “We defended them quite well – we are improving at that aspect of the game. But we have to improve at not conceding them. Some of them are easy situations that we can solve.”
Improvement wasn’t forthcoming during the first half of their clash against Leeds, as shipping another goals from a set piece has taken their tally to nine for the season.
| Most goals conceded from set pieces (Premier League 2025/26) |
| West Ham – 9 |
| Nottingham Forest 6 |
| Leeds United – 5 |
| Liverpool – 5 |
| Aston Villa – 4 |
West Ham must simply improve defensively to have any chance of staying up, and that starts by becoming more organised from dead balls.