ON a night where a hardcore of West Ham fans held a boycott, their defence opted to join them.
What a start at home for Nuno Espirito Santo, more than 10,000 empty seats, a hapless performance and a fourth straight home defeat for this sorry Hammers side.
Fan groups had pushed for thousands to stay away as they continued protests against the West Ham board – and it was a fine night for a boycott.
On a wet Monday night against a wasteful Brentford – who should have overseen a bloodbath rather than a narrow first away win of the season – those who stayed away missed nothing.
Igor Thiago’s fourth goal of the season condemned the Hammers to their sixth defeat of the season.
The fact it was a midweek game against the Bees may have had the attendance down, but the large pockets of empty seats were noticeable.
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Still searching for his first win as West Ham boss, and in a week in which they must play games on Monday and Friday, Nuno sprung a surprise with his team.
There were five changes, with a right-back at left-back and a left-back at right-back as well as no recognised striker.
Andy Irving, the Scottish midfielder with one Premier League start to his name, was given a full home debut, just 780 days after joining the club.
While the team selection might not be predictable, the results remain so.
Nuno did not get a hearty welcome to east London. There was no official call to welcome the new boss ahead of kick-off and a flat atmosphere accompanied a torrid opening half an hour.
Though, with a team without a point at home before this game hosting one without a point away, it would have been naive to expect much more.
Neither side were offering much to get excited about across a desperate first half, both lacking any imagination.
West Ham created next to nothing and the Bees looked like they might not convert anything they did.
Thiago managed to hit the bar from yards out after Dango Ouattara’s flick on before the ex-Bournemouth man missed a couple of his own good chances and Alphonse Areola saved from Mikkel Damsgaard.
West Ham were seemingly terrified by Brentford’s wastefulness, reacting to each let off by sitting deeper and conceding yet another corner from which they were troubled.
It all pointed to one outcome and the frail Hammers defence finally crumbled just before the break.
Yehor Yarmolyuk clipped a fine ball from deep over the West Ham defence. Max Kilman tracked back to deal with it, but his clearance was straight into the chest of Kevin Schade.
The German was allowed to square for Thiago, whose shot ricocheted off Areola’s arm and looped in.
Kilman’s awful form has summed up West Ham’s wastefulness in recent windows, forking out £40million for a defender who is yet to show he is worth a tenth of that.
The former Wolves captain cannot take all the credit, Jean-Clair Todibo, restored to the team, was equally as hapless.
Brentford were far from brilliant, but they had a plan and put in the work. It was hard to decipher what West Ham wanted and how they would go about it.
They were so open off the ball and so lifeless on it, rescued from going into the break two down by a tight offside call against Thiago, who thought he had doubled the lead.
Nuno responded to being a goal down at the break by sending on three defenders, shifting two a back three.
The changes made little difference. Brentford were still dominating the ball and should have been running away with it, Schade heading onto the bar from Michael Kayode’s whipped cross on 62 minutes.
Sepp van Den Berg and Thiago both also passed up further chances to extend the lead.
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Nuno sent on Callum Marshall and Guido Rodriguez in pursuit of a leveller, ahead of striker Callum Wilson.
They too made no difference and West Ham, reduced to ten late on after Konstantinos Mavropanos was forced off injured, offered no fight before Jensen struck from Keane Lewis-Potter’s cutback.
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