When it comes to ranking the worst performances in Premier League history, forget your Derby County’s or your Southamptons, Neil Warnock feels the turgid display West Ham United turned in against Brentford is right up there.
That the visitors racked up no fewer than eight attempts on West Ham United’s goal during a remarkable five-minute spell in the first half rather summed up a miserable Monday evening.
If the Hammers were hoping for a proverbial ‘new manager bounce’, they instead were treated to the sight of Nuno Espirito Santo looking just as baffled and bemused as Graham Potter and Julen Lopetegui before him.
And although the beleaguered Londoners survived that Brentford barrage around the half hour mark, their luck would soon run out. Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo were caught out again – who would have thought Nuno would miss Konstantinos Mavropanos so keenly? – while at the other end an anonymous Lucas Paqueta would have no answer to Brentford’s domination.
Paqueta scored in four successive West Ham and Brazil matches between August and mid-September. That purple patch feels a long time ago now.
Now, this most mercurial of playmakers has flitted frequently from the awesome to the awful throughout his Premier League career. Unfortunately for Nuno – and much to the frustration of a watching Neil Warnock – the new Hammers boss appears to have inherited Paqueta in one of his slumps.
Neil Warnock slams West Ham United and Lucas Paqueta
Even 2007/08’s infamous Derby County had more points than West Ham do after nine games of a top-flight campaign. A seventh defeat in nine, coming away to Leeds on Friday night, means the Hammers have just four from a potential 27.
In a season full of apparent rock bottom moments, it is difficult to pick the very worst. The 3-0 opening day trouncing by Sunderland certainly set the tone, followed by a 5-1 home drubbing at the hands of Chelsea. Yet, while the scoreline might not have been quite so eye-opening by comparison, former Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Leeds boss Warnock feels the nature of that Brentford defeat went above and beyond.
A game in Warnock saw the anaemic, ineffective, and seemingly half-hearted display of a certain Brazil international as epitomising West Ham’s woes.
“I watched the Brentford game against West Ham. That was the worst Premiership performance I have ever seen in my lifetime, not just this year!” the 76-year-old tells talkSPORT.
“And you talk about Paqueta, If ever a player didn’t want to be there…
“Watching that game, I said, ‘I wouldn’t have him’. No wonder they are struggling this year. I bet he’s a nightmare in the dressing room!”
Nuno Espirito Santo has a Paqueta plan at the London Stadium
Warnock’s criticism came hours after reports suggested that the ex-AC Milan, Lyon and Flamengo ace was determined to leave the London Stadium in the January transfer window. Lucas Paqueta appeared to hit back at those rumours with an intriguingly-timed social media post, but further speculation is something the Hammers could do without.
Whatever happens in the New Year, Nuno Espirito Santo is determined to get Paqueta firing again for the time being.
“Offensively, we didn’t do enough against Brentford,” he said shortly before that loss at Leeds. “We must have the freedom to go and really attack. Finding the balance is hard, but I am positive.
“We have to improve Lucas, to get the best out of him. He can do it, but he has to improve because I think we have the pieces to take the best out of Lucas. We have speed in front, so let’s try and find solutions so Lucas can deliver all the good things that he has.
“Jarrod [Bowen] is not a player who drops and drives the ball [forward]. We must get the ball there [in his favoured positions in attack], so he can do it. The same as Lucas.
“Which are the areas that Lucas can have an impact on the game? Where can Jarrod have an impact on the game?”
