Credit: Imago

Daniel Davis

Sun 3 May 2026 12:40, UK

Nuno Espirito Santo knew West Ham United were no longer masters of their own destiny.

“I cannot do anything,” he admitted after watching his side succumb to a disappointing 3-0 defeat by Brentford on Saturday. That setback handed Tottenham Hotspur the advantage in the relegation fight, and they can now leapfrog the Hammers if they beat Aston Villa.

Nuno will watch that match helplessly from a distance, perhaps ruing a series of costly decisions at the Gtech Community Stadium. While his charges didn’t deserve to come away with a battering, there were enough mistakes and sloppy displays to concern him.

They were worryingly sterile in attack, having hit the woodwork four times, had an equaliser ruled out by VAR and failed to score from any of their 13 shots on goal. But they were equally poor defensively. Brentford created too many opportunities, seemingly at will.

West Ham more than played their part in an end-to-end affair, but that will mean nothing at this stage of the season. They need to put more points on the board – and fast.

Nuno Espirito Santo will regret West Ham mistakes

For all of their good work and attractive build-up play in West London, West Ham remain a frustrating enigma. They have too often blown hot and cold. When it really mattered, when their backs were firmly planted against the wall, they couldn’t get the job done.

Publicly, Nuno retained a calm exterior, aware that losing his head would do nothing to boost the fragile confidence of his players. He was pleased with elements of the display, but will also have taken note of the alarming manner in which it all fell apart during the second half.

Igor Thiago’s penalty to make it 2-0 to the hosts effectively killed off West Ham. They rallied somewhat, but never truly looked like elbowing their way back into the match. When the stakes are this high, this cannot happen. Too many players dipped below the standard.

“The second goal hurt us,” Nuno said. “We lost composure.”

He didn’t help on that front.

It was clear for all to see that West Ham were far too open during the first half. They were bright enough going forward, but could also have conceded a boatload. This approach, while admirable, has historically not secured the points required at the foot of the table.

In the end, the front-foot blueprint didn’t even work. The visitors stymied themselves after becoming only the fourth team to hit the woodwork at least three times in a top-flight match this season. They could have gone into the break leading, but found themselves behind.

When El Hadji Malick Diouf slid into a poor challenge on Dango Ouattara and surrendered a cheap penalty, it was effectively game over. Up until that point, they had more than held their own. They moved from front to back with purpose, albeit without a sufficient cutting edge.

Taty Castellanos was denied twice by the post, sent a header wide and saw another effort kept out by Caoimhin Kelleher. Pablo Felipe, his strike partner, is yet to get off the mark since joining from Gil Vicente in January and delivered another poor display at the Gtech.

Therein lay Nuno’s biggest failure.

It boggled the mind why Pablo was not hooked. Instead, Castellanos found himself making way, while the misfiring 22-year-old was allowed to complete the full 90 minutes. Only Nuno will know the thinking behind that decision, but either way, it did not work out.

Pablo offers plenty of effort but has not shown even the faintest glimpse of game-changing quality. He didn’t bring much more to the table even after Adama Traore, Callum Wilson and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were thrown on, Nuno having gone for broke too little, too late.

Arguably, Pablo was fortunate to remain on the pitch after a poor challenge on Mathias Jensen. His drought now stands at 14 matches, and he simply can’t start again.

As the clock ticked into the closing stages, Nuno’s switch to a back five steadied his side. Again, though, the change was too delayed. Worryingly, that is the one constant throughout the Hammers’ campaign. He must become more proactive if he is to keep them up.

Nuno calls for unity ahead of run-in

Tottenham still have it all to do, but are arguably now slender favourites to avoid relegation at West Ham’s expense. That realisation looked to have dawned almost immediately on Nuno post-match on Saturday, leading him to urge his squad to stay united.

“It’s going to be a big challenge for all of us with the impact of this tough day,” he said.

“It’s up to us how we’re going to react to this. We’ve got three games to go, and it’s going to go to the wire. But that’s what I said to the boys: ‘Let’s keep together, let’s realise how we react from a bad day is going to keep us alive in the fight’.”

Nuno, however, must now deliver more than rousing words.

West Ham cannot afford to be meek. Anything less than total bravery and commitment may see them slide into the Championship with barely a whimper.