‘Where do we start?’ – Rob Green rips into Nuno Espirito Santo after West Ham loss vs Leeds United
West Ham were plunged deeper into relegation trouble after their defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road.
The Hammers came into this six-pointer on the back of a four-match winless run, and that was extended to five after goals from Brenden Aaronson and Joe Rodon handed West Ham a 2-1 loss against Leeds.
It was another evening of poor defending from set-pieces as Lucas Paqueta was slammed by Alan Smith after he lost Rodon easily in the box for his headed goal.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have conceded the most of any team from dead balls in the Premier League, with the Portuguese tactician failing to change their fortunes.
Rob Green slams Nuno Espirito Santo’s tactical decisions
West Ham’s players were outfought, outran and ultimately outplayed by Leeds on Friday night, but Nuno also deserves criticism for the decisions he made.
The former Nottingham Forest boss deployed a 3-4-3 formation at Elland Road and weirdly played Oliver Scarles as a right wing-back with Paqueta as an orthodox striker and a double pivot of Andy Irving and Tomas Soucek.
Scarles was replaced before the 30-minute mark with an injury, with Callum Wilson coming on, while the rest of the substitutes made more of an impact.
Mateus Fernandes scored a fine headed goal, assisted by Jarrod Bowen; meanwhile, the likes of Soungoutou Magassa, Kyle Walker-Peters and Freddie Potts all gave the Hammers more attacking impetus and a stronger balance late on.
Former West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green highlighted this in his post-match analysis. He said on Sky Sports: “Where do we start? It was just a repeat from Monday night.”
“It didn’t work on Monday, and he went out and did it again. They just didn’t turn up. I don’t understand how you can make five subs and have a better team and structure than the ones you started with.”
Stuart Dallas shares verdict on West Ham after Leeds loss
Green was correct in his analysis. Irving and Soucek were overrun as a double pivot and didn’t have the legs to shut down the likes of Sean Longstaff, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka.
| Leeds | Stats | West Ham |
| 3 | Big chances | 0 |
| 13 | Shots | 9 |
| 5 | On target | 3 |
| 41% | Possession | 59% |
| 9 | Touches in opp box | 10 |
| 22 | Tackles | 13 |
Unsurprisingly, former Leeds player Stuart Dallas was also critical of the Hammers display. “West Ham were really poor. They didn’t deserve anything from the end of the game,” Dallas said on Sky Sports.
“But normally Leeds would score three or four goals. They didn’t. And 2-0 is such a dangerous scoreline. But a big result. A good response after last week.”
West Ham’s latest defeat leaves them three points adrift of safety, having played a game more, and seven behind Leeds.