Just when you thought West Ham United had reached rock bottom, Nuno Espirito Santo dug out a shovel, scraped through the dirt, and took a tumble into the sewers.
Wolves 3-0 West Ham United.
On a day when even a draw, when even an unconvincing 1-0 victory would have done little to dispel the bad feeling surrounding the Hammers, one thing they could not afford to do was lose. When you factor in the manner of the defeat – 1-0 down inside four minutes and 3-0 down inside 41 – you have to wonder if there is any way back.
Not just for the club’s Premier League status, either. Defeat at Nottingham Forest in midweek would surely make relegation an inevitability.
Humiliation at Molineux…
Where does this rank among West Ham's WORST ever Premier League defeats?
But for a manager in Nuno Espirito Santo, whose high standing among the home fans at Molineux was an alarming contrast to the brutal reception afforded to him by those who made the 140-plus mile journey to the Black Country, only to see their side plant a neat little bow on top of the most gift-wrapped victory of the top-flight season, this felt like a real ‘end of days’ afternoon.
A penny for Pablo Felipe’s thoughts.
Less than 24 hours after Pablo put pen to paper with West Ham, he must have been tempted to pull up that snood a little bit higher, covering his eyes from the crime as well as his cheekbones from the wintery Wolverhampton elements.
As for the man who brought him to England – Nuno picked Pablo as a ‘key target’ for his attempted January overhaul – only time will tell if he survives the latest potentially fatal blow to his reputation in the West Ham dugout.
The five worst starts from West Ham United’s 3-0 defeat at Wolves
The Hammers did not manage a single shot on target
That West Ham failed to muster a shot on target, despite dominating 69 per cent of the possession and producing 574 passes to Wolves’ 296, summed up the toothless nature of a sad performance.
Lucas Paqueta was out injured. And, as underwhelming as he has been recently, this was a brutal reminder as to the lack of cutting edge West Ham possess outside of their enigmatic Brazilian. Crysencio Summerville was pulled from pillar to post by a burly Wolves backline, and Jarrod Bowen barely got a sniff.
The home side were happy enough to sit on their three-goal lead and dare West Ham to open them up. Nuno’s team spent the entire second half looking as if they were trying to open up a bank vault with a hairpin.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s nightmare season goes on
Credit to OptaJoe for pointing this out.
“In the last two seasons, the only two times that the team in 20th position have led by 3-plus goals in a Premier League match have both been against Nuno Espirito Santo.”
Wolves, today. And, as if the irony could not be any more bitter, against West Ham in August, when Nuno was still in the Nottingham Forest dugout.
Wolves end 24-match wait for a Premier League win
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April 24th, 2024.
That was the last time the Old Gold outfit had triumphed in a Premier League match. Funnily enough, that ended 3-0 as well, against a Leicester City side whose relegation had been confirmed in the previous weekend.
There is still a long way to go this term, of course. But the Hammers fans making a long, unhappy bus ride home could be forgiven for thinking the same fate has just befallen their own side at Molineux.
Callum Wilson anonymity is a big concern for Pablo Felipe
West Ham have signed an ‘extraordinary’ talent in Pablo. With ten goals in 13 league matches for Gil Vicente in the first half of the season, Pablo’s conversion rate is higher than Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, let alone Callum Wilson.
Put simply, give him chances, and he’ll take them more often than not.
Watching on from the away dugout, though, was a striker who may be about to go from being served up steak on a silver platter to nibbling at scraps.
Callum Wilson touched the ball only 21 times at Wolves, registering a single shot. Some of the service into him was nothing short of abysmal. This is not the first time Wilson has been starved of service in Nuno’s attack, either.
Pablo may possess more mobility given that he is 12 years younger but, as lethal as his finishing may be, he cannot cook up a Michelin star meal without being provided with the requisite ingredients.
If you could replace Nuno with one out-of-work manager, who are you picking?
And why?
Wolves scored three goals from an XG of 1.56
When you consider that Hwang Hee-Chan’s penalty to put the hosts 2-0 up accounts for just shy of 0.8 of their ‘expected goals’ tally, Wolves scored their other two goals from a combined XG of around 0.76.
It is not only damaging just how frequently West Ham are conceding goals, but how frequently they manage to turn low XG chances into tangible results for their opponents.
Nuno was ‘disappointed’ with Alphonse Areola’s error in the midweek draw with Brighton. There was nothing quite so egregious here, though a finer goalkeeper would surely have made a better fist of Mateus Mane’s speculative third. It’s not as if West Ham didn’t spend most of last summer looking for a replacement before splashing £18 million on Mads Hermansen…
Per FotMob, West Ham have let in 41 goals from a seasonal XG of 34.6. They should have five more points to their name as well, given the quality of chances they have created and conceded.
When you are missing opportunities you should take, while gifting goals the opposition have barely had to work for, you don’t need a PhD in cocktail making to realise this is a bad flavour balance.
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