‘It’s shocking’ – Paul Merson explodes over what he saw West Ham players do vs Leeds
Paul Merson couldn’t believe what he was seeing as West Ham lost to Leeds at Elland Road on Friday night.
Mateus Fernandes‘ late goal wasn’t enough to spark a comeback as West Ham were beaten 2-1 by Daniel Farke’s side in West Yorkshire.
Lucas Paqueta had a goal disallowed for offside, but overall, the Hammers’ performance wasn’t good enough as they once again conceded from set-pieces.
Brenden Aaronson’s early goal wasn’t from a set-piece, but it did derive from a cross out from Leeds’ right-hand side, before Joe Rodon headed in a corner.
Paul Merson raging over West Ham’s set-piece defending
West Ham are one of the worst teams in Europe for conceding goals at set-pieces.
They have now conceded nine times from corners and free-kicks from this season, with no other Premier League team coming close to that record.
Nuno Espirito Santo has so far failed to arrest the defensive horror shows that have pretty much part and parcel of supporting the Hammers since the late stages of David Moyes‘ time in charge.
However, in October, is there much hope for the former Nottingham Forest manager to fix things up?
Arsenal legend Merson cannot believe how bad West Ham were against Brentford on Monday, followed by another poor performance at Leeds on Friday night.
“I thought Monday night was as bad as it got,” said Merson on Sky Sports News.
“No disrespect to Brentford but you’re playing a middle-of-the-road team who’ll probably finish in the bottom half of the table. They went to West Ham and destroyed them.
| Opponent | Venue | Date |
| Newcastle | London Stadium | 2 November |
| Burnley | London Stadium | 8 November |
| Bournemouth | Vitality Stadium | 22 November |
| Liverpool | London Stadium | 30 November |
| Man United | Old Trafford | 4 December |
“If it was Arsenal or Liverpool who went there and ripped them up then, yes, I can understand that. But it wasn’t.
“And then, yesterday, after the embarrassment of Monday, you think, ‘right, let’s go’ – but they were blown away in the first 20 minutes. Blown away.
“It was alright in the second half, they got better, they changed it up. But it’s easy when you’re 2-0 down away from home, you’ve got nothing to lose.“
As Sky Sports News showed a clip of Rodon’s goal at a corner, Merson added: “I mean, it’s shocking.”
Clinton Morrison backs West Ham to be relegated
West Ham are now nine games into the Premier League season and have just four points to show for those matches.
Their only win came against Nottingham Forest in August when Graham Potter was in charge of the Irons and Nuno, ironically, was the Forest boss.
Former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison has written off the Hammers’ survival hopes already after what he’s seen so far this season.
“When you have a new manager, you’re meant to have that new manager bounce. That hasn’t happened with Nuno there,” said Morrison on Sky Sports News.
He added: “At the moment, that is relegation [form], I don’t see how they get out of it at the moment because it looks like they’re low on confidence.”
West Ham’s next game is against Newcastle at the London Stadium next Sunday.
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