West Ham: Wayne Rooney is right about Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Brentford ‘body language’ proves he cannot start
West Ham United will have their alarm bells ringing after they were beaten 3-0 away at Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men turned in a woeful defensive display at the Gtech Community Stadium, and their hosts took full advantage to punish them with a convincing victory.
A Konstantinos Mavropanos own goal set the ball rolling in the 15th minute, before an Igor Thiago penalty and Mikkel Damsgaard’s late strike took the game away from the Hammers in the second half.
The defeat leaves the East Londoners anxiously awaiting Tottenham’s result away at Aston Villa on Sunday night, knowing that victory for Spurs would see them thrown back into the relegation zone.
West Ham’s defeat to Brentford saw few in their ranks emerge with any credit at all, but Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been highlighted for a particularly concerning sign.
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VISIT THE WEST HAM MATCH HUBWayne Rooney rips into Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Kyle Walker-Peters started the game at right-back for West Ham, but he was replaced by Wan-Bissaka in the 65th minute.
The former Manchester United man didn’t spend long on the pitch, but he still contributed to his team’s awful defensive efforts, as he was guilty of being lax on several occasions in the build-up to Damsgaard’s third goal.
| Stats | Wan-Bissaka | Walker-Peters |
| Apps (Starts) | 23 (21) | 22 (14) |
| G/A | 2 | 1 |
| Chances Created per 90 | 0.79 | 0.49 |
| Successful Dribbles per 90 | 0.75 | 1.12 |
| Tackles per 90 | 1.4 | 3.07 |
| Duels Won per 90 | 3.68 | 6.7 |
Wayne Rooney picked out the poor body language from the 28-year-old during his analysis on Match of the Day, and he was clear about how damaging it could be at this stage of the season.
“Wan-Bissaka switches off, he allows Thiago to run inside him,” the pundit said.
“He gets back into a good position and the ball comes into the back post. This bit here, you’re fighting to stay in the Premier League, and Wan-Bissaka is known for his defending, and you’re showing this body language.
“It’s a bad first touch, he has to get out to the ball but he does nothing and he ambles out. If I was a West Ham fan I would be really concerned after seeing that.”
Rooney was absolutely right in his assessment of Wan-Bissaka, who simply didn’t look like he cared enough to continue fighting until the final whistle.
That should tell Nuno everything he needs to know about the role he should give him between now and the end of the season, as he simply cannot have a player starting crucial games while seemingly being in such a poor mindset.
West Ham concerns realised after awful refereeing display
Nuno has previous with Craig Pawson, having lambasted Saturday’s official during his time in charge of Nottingham Forest, and he would have been fearing the worst with him in charge of the clash with Brentford.
Those fears were materialised on Saturday, as the man in the middle made several crucial decisions that went against the Hammers across the 90 minutes.
Nuno’s men saw penalty appeals waved away for challenges on Tomas Soucek and Pablo, with the latter seemingly an obvious spot-kick.
It was enough to undoubtedly leave the boss feeling aggrieved after the game, but in reality, it was his players who should be shouldering the majority of the blame.
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