Much was made, at the end of that deflating 1-0 home defeat by Fulham, of the fact Ollie Scarles walked off the pitch in tears without a West Ham United team-mate in sight.
A lack of leadership in the Hammers dressing room has been an accusation aimed at Nuno Espirito Santo’s outfit throughout the campaign. And certainly since the departures of Michail Antonio, Kurt Zouma, Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal and co over the summer.
Coufal himself cast doubt on Bowen’s ability to really lead by example from the top end of the pitch.
The sight of Scarles trudging off all alone left a sour taste, too, on the back of the young left-back’s costly mistake against Fulham a couple of days after Christmas. The 20-year-old academy graduate could not hold back the tears yet, with the exception of Kyle Walker-Peters, there hardly appeared to be much of a united front put on by his more experienced West Ham United teammates.
DESCRIBE Ollie Scarles’ performance in one word!
What a response from the youngster
But, after a much-improved performance in Tuesday’s thrilling 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion, Ollie Scarles took the chance to hit back at claims that he had been hung out to dry.
Ollie Scarles insists he has the support of West Ham United and Nuno Espirito Santo
Scarles ‘shut the haters up’, to quote one impressed supporter, in what was arguably a Man of the Match performance.
What a difference three days makes. From the lows of Raul Jimenez’s 85th minute winner for Fulham to a stand-out display at the very same stadium.
“Definitely, I needed a bounce back from last week,” Scarles told reporters at full-time. “Obviously, every player goes through them sort of moments. It was a tough one for me because, you know, the club means a lot to me and I want to win games.
“I want to do well for the team. So, yeah, I needed a bit of a bounce back and I thought I’d done all right today. So it’s not too bad.”
Scarles also credits Nuno for giving him the chance to respond, albeit the former Wolves, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest boss was hardly overloaded with alternative options.
El Hadji Malick Diouf is on AFCON duty with Senegal and, while West Ham look well-placed to sign Souffian El Karouani from FC Utrecht, Scarles is currently the only senior left-back on the books.
“Obviously, I’m thankful to the gaffer, you know,” Scarles adds. “He showed good faith in me to stick me back in.
“It’s been tough for everyone, you know, we’ve had to recover well. And the boys are brilliant with me, they comforted me [after that Fulham mistake]. It’s just one I’ve got to put past me. These things happen in football. It’s just about moving on from them.
“And luckily in football, games come thick and fast. So, it’s always about the next game and putting it right for going forward.
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“I appreciate all the fans. I’ve had some really nice messages and support, both online and just around the building and everything. Family, friends… yeah, it’s been good.
“But back to it now. We’ve got to focus on the next game. We’ve got Wolves [away on Saturday] and that’ll be another good one. Hopefully, we can get three points there.”
Scarles looks ahead of Wolves clash in crucial Premier League weekend
West Ham travel to Molineux in their first outing of 2026 knowing that a first win since Burnley in November could take them to within one point of Nottingham Forest in 17th.
On a night when Nuno came in for criticism from the London Stadium terraces once again, particularly when replacing Callum Wilson with Crysencio Summerville in the immediate aftermath of Brighton’s equaliser, the Hammers may relish a weekend away from so-called ‘home comforts’.
“The Premier League, best league in the world. It’s got some of the best players in the world,” explains Scarles, who is likely to start a fourth straight league match alongside Walker-Peters.
“So it’s always going to be a test when we’re short of players with two players away at the AFCON, with Malik and Aaron [Wan-Bissaka]. It’s just about adapting and trying to get up to the test and doing as much as we can.
“But yeah, we’d like to get better results. We’ve just got to keep working, keep fighting.
“It’s full-on, but that’s football. That’s the job. We’ve got to be working every day. The schedule’s busy, especially over this period of time. It’s just about staying focused, staying fit, and recovering well in between these games and keep fighting as hard as we can together in every game.”
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