West Ham United’s fraught 2025–26 campaign went from bad to worse on Monday night as they were comprehensively beaten 2–0 at home by Brentford, with head coach Nuno Espírito Santo bluntly admitting afterwards that his side “have a problem.”
The defeat, delivered at the London Stadium, deepened the crisis for West Ham, who now sit near the bottom of the Premier League table and have lost each of their opening four home matches for the first time in the club’s history.
In what was Nuno’s first home fixture in charge, there had been hopes of a turnaround. Instead, West Ham produced a disjointed performance, failing to match Brentford’s physicality, sustained pressure, and set-piece threat. The visitors opened the scoring just before half-time when Igor Thiago fired past Alphonse Areola after the home defence was exposed.
Brentford wrapped up the win in stoppage time when Mathias Jensen slotted home from a cut-back, making the result emphatic if not entirely reflective of the dominance the visitors enjoyed throughout.
After the match, Nuno did not mince his words. “Not good enough. Poor,” he said. “Fairly, Brentford won the game, they were the better team. I think we are all concerned. You can see our own fans are concerned. Concern becomes anxiety, becomes silence. We have a problem.”
He went on to add: “It is up to us to change. The fans need to see something that pleases them and they can support us and give us energy.”
The atmosphere around West Ham on Monday night was visibly strained. Large swathes of empty seats were noted in the stadium as supporter unrest over the club’s leadership – notably chairman David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady – manifested in a boycott.
That absence of support, Nuno suggested, carried a psychological weight for his players. “I honestly believe that our fans are concerned more than anything,” he said. “The silence is about being concerned of the situation. They are concerned and we can feel it. That feeling passes to the players and transforms themselves to anxiety.”
Tactical and structural issues were plain to see. After a promising first 15 to 20 minutes in which West Ham enjoyed good possession and looked relatively comfortable, the momentum shifted. The visitors grew into the game, launching a series of attacks and forcing defensive errors from the hosts.
The home side’s attacking output was meagre, producing barely a handful of efforts on target. Nuno admitted the team struggled with individual duels and set-piece defending, saying, “We have to be strong in every moment, in every duel. Individually, we have to improve. The set-pieces… until the end Brentford was the better team.”
This latest defeat exacerbates West Ham’s slide into a worrying region of the table. They now sit 19th, with only Wolverhampton Wanderers below them, and with just four points from eight matches – placing the club in full-blown relegation-scrap territory.
The club have also now lost five consecutive home games in the top flight for the first time since 1931.
Brentford, by contrast, bounced back strongly after a difficult start to their season. The visitors’ manager, Keith Andrews, commended his team’s physicality and game management, saying, “Very pleased. We approached the game really well. I had a good feeling the last few days, the vibe, the energy around the place. I thought we produced a really good performance.”
For West Ham, the problems extend beyond tactics or personnel. With the message coming from the dugout that “we have a problem,” the club must confront systemic issues – a blurred identity, fragile mentality, and mounting fan distrust.
Nuno admitted as much, saying that the side are “very far from developing an identity under my management” and that the challenge of building cohesion is significant. “We have to persist and commit ourselves to achieve it,” he added.
The timeframe for improvement is tight. West Ham now must travel to Leeds United on Friday, a newly-promoted side themselves but one that nonetheless represents a must-win for Nuno’s men if the downward spiral is to be halted. As the coach stressed: “We must improve so many things.”