West Ham United’s torrid start to the season continued on Saturday afternoon after a 1-1 draw away to Brentford. It was a frustrating day for the Hammers, who went 1-0 down inside the first minute. That goal meant the Bees became the first side in Premier League history to score in the first minute of a game three games in a row.
After Bryan Mbeumo’s early strike, a superb volley from inside the penalty box, it became a more even affair, but it took the Hammers until the 54th minute to draw level, thanks to Tomas Soucek. West Ham managed to hold onto a point despite late Brentford pressure.
For Julen Lopetegui’s side, they simply cannot catch a break this term. The East London outfit have still managed just one win from their opening six games, having lost three of those and drawing the other two. They currently sit in 14th place in the table, on just five points and with a minus-four goal difference.
It was a far-from-ideal performance once more from the Hammers, and, rather disappointingly, some of their biggest names are struggling to find their best form this season. That was certainly a theme against Brentford on Saturday.
West Ham’s big stars struggle
It was an important summer window at the London Stadium, with West Ham making some big-name attacking signings, including Niclas Fullkrug and Crycensio Summerville, to add to the firepower they already possessed in attacking areas.
Despite having 19 shots at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, as per Sofascore, the Hammers had three of those on target. Worryingly, they had an expected goals tally of less than one, with a remarkably low 0.73xG. Given the number of shots they had, the chances they created were not really substantial at all.
West Ham’s big-name duo of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus did not perform to their usual standards against the Bees. Both were substituted, with the Ghanaian attacker brought off at halftime, although Bowen was replaced by Andy Iriving in the 92nd minute.
Kudus failed to create a chance, and although the West Ham skipper managed three, he had an expected assists total of just 0.16xA. Between them, they lost the ball 33 times, with Kudus losing possession on 11 occasions and the England international 22.
Despite their poor performances, neither attacker was arguably West Ham’s worst player, with their fellow big-name star, Lucas Paqueta, also struggling against Brentford.
Paqueta’s stats vs. Brentford
It has not been the best start to the season for Brazil international Paqueta. He has now scored just one goal and is yet to register an assist this season, despite having started all but one of the Hammers’ Premier League games.
Against Brentford, it was very much a similar story for the former Olympique Lyon midfielder. Like Bowen and Kudus, the 27-year-old was also substituted against Thomas Frank’s side, being replaced by Summerville on the 76-minute mark.
His stats suggest that it was not an unjustifiable change from Lopetegui, with the normally superb Brazilian struggling to retain the ball. Paqueta, who had 58 touches, had a pass accuracy of just 78% and lost the ball 17 times. That worked out at an average of squandering possession once every 3.4 touches of the ball.
Touches
58
Pass accuracy
78%
Ground duels won
1/6
Possession lost
17
Dribbles completed
0/1
Errors leading to shots
1
Paqueta’s disappointing performance earned him a rating of just 5/10 from The Standard journalist Dom Smith. He explained that the Brazilian ‘struggled to make an impact’ on the game, before seemingly complaining about Lopetegui’s decision to substitute him.
The Hammers will no doubt be hoping their big stars can get back to their best, as they look to turn around this bout of poor early-season form.
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