Awful Michail Antonio stank the place out as bickering West Ham were easily beaten by Brentford 2-0 on Sunday.
West Ham were handed a golden opportunity to consolidate their place in the top six when Wolves, Man United and Arsenal all lost prior to their trip to Brentford.
But David Moyes’s side put in a terrible performance much like their last away game at Spurs.
Awful Michail Antonio stinks the place out as bickering West Ham easily beaten by Brentford
West Ham were half asleep throughout in a performance which was notable for a lot of bickering on the pitch among players.
Declan Rice cut a hugely frustrated figure as he was involved in heated exchanges with the likes of Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and others.
Rice was constantly throwing his hands in the air and visibly showing his frustration.
To a man West Ham were abject. But nobody was more awful than Antonio who stunk the place out with one of his worst performances for the Hammers.
The striker’s goal drought continued and he has not scored a Premier League goal since New Year’s Day.
His all round play was woeful culminating in a moment where West Ham had a rare chance to go at goal. Instead of playing a teammate in, driving at goal himself or – God forbid – having a shot, Antonio dawdled on the ball, gave it away and Brentford went straight down the other end and scored.
In fairness to Antonio he was once again given very little service. But his job is to be the focal point and help build the attack to enable that to happen.
Aaron Cresswell was not far behind Antonio with a terrible performance, ball watching for the first goal.
Vladimir Coufal struggled on his return from a long lay-off after a hernia operation.
The only West Ham players to emerge from the game with any credit were Craig Dawson and Pablo Fornals, who worked their socks off for the team.
Rice struggled to have any impact on the game and substitutes Said Benrahma and Nikola Vlasic huffed and puffed but did the square root of nothing either.
Issa Diop looked extremely rusty too and that will be a concern with the game at Lyon on the horizon.
All in all a terrible day at the office for a jaded and narky West Ham. The defeat sealed a double for Brentford over the Hammers.
West Ham threw away the chance to really put their stamp on a European spot. This was more like the bad old flaky West Ham from before Moyes’s return. And that will annoy the Scot more than anything else.
Perspective of course is always needed when we hit these bumps in the road. West Ham have come such a long way under Moyes. It almost feels ridiculous to criticise West Ham given where we are and have come from.
West Ham’s squad is also ridiculously shallow in key areas and that simply must be addressed in the summer.
It is too easy to use West Ham’s European exertions as an excuse. Particularly when they played in London on Thursday night. But playing with 10 men for a half against Lyon could be a mitigating factor.
Any flicker of hope West Ham could catch Spurs for the last Champions League spot was extinguished at Brentford today.
Play anything like this against Lyon on Thursday and the Hammers will be out of the Europa League.
West Ham player ratings vs Brentford:
Fabianski 6, Cresswell 3, Dawson 6, Zouma 6, Coufal 4, Rice 6, Soucek 5, Lanzini 4, Fornals 6, Bowen 4, Antonio 2.