Schade winner for Brentford sinks West Ham to increase Potter’s problems

This was supposed to be the afternoon when West Ham’s attack exploded into life. They had a new striker on the bench, Lucas Paquetá was back from injury and Graham Potter felt bold enough to deploy an adventurous 4-2-3-1 system. The stage was surely set for Paquetá, Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus to run riot in the first half and the narrative demanded a goalscoring cameo from Evan Ferguson following his arrival on loan from Brighton.

In the event there were some encouraging flashes from Ferguson after he came on after 45 minutes of dominance from Brentford. The 20-year-old roughed up his markers, almost created an equaliser for Kudus and tested Mark Flekken with a low drive from the edge of the area. Yet there was never any prospect of a sustained onslaught from West Ham and, although there have been positive moments since the departure of Julen Lopetegui last month, Potter must accept that a record of one win from his six first games in charge is not good enough.

The sense remains that this season cannot end quickly enough for West Ham. The London Stadium is a dour place at the moment and Potter, whose side remain 10 points above the bottom three could not complain about a second consecutive home defeat. Brentford, comfortable in mid-table, triumphed because they excelled at both sides of the game. They were brisk and inventive during the first half, and it was not exactly a siege during the second half. West Ham created little and it would not have been a travesty if Brentford had added to Kevin Schade’s decisive early goal.

One of the challenges facing Potter is to solve West Ham’s habit of conceding early. They rarely fly at opponents and seemed unaware of Brentford’s penchant for fast starts. Only four minutes had passed when the visitors broke from a corner and found West Ham wide open through the middle. Konstantinos Mavropanos had abandoned his post, diffident defending from Emerson Palmieri made it easy for Bryan Mbeumo to release Schade and the winger scored at the second attempt after seeing Alphonse Areola save his initial effort.

It was the 10th goal conceded by West Ham in the opening 10 minutes this season. They are too passive at times and they looked unbalanced after switching to a back four. Mavropanos was characteristically clumsy next to Max Kilman in central defence, Tomas Soucek and Edson Álvarez were a one-paced duo in midfield and the only negative for Brentford was that they only led 1-0 as half-time approached.

With West Ham unable to track Mikkel Damsgaard’s movement in the No 10 position Brentford had no problem creating chances. Mbeumo, a constant handful on the right, cut inside and drew a sharp save from Areola. Schade ran clear and rapped a shot against the woodwork. Wissa fluffed a free header and had two goals disallowed for offside, the second after a video assistant referee check showed that Kristoffer Ajer was offside during the buildup.

West Ham were fortunate still to be in the contest, but they were offering nothing as an attacking threat. The biggest criticism is that they resembled a Lopetegui team. Kudus was having little impact in a central role and Potter had not found a way to make the most of being able to start both Bowen and Paquetá for the first time since being appointed last month. Potter responded with three substitutions at half-time. Ollie Scarles came on for Emerson at left-back, James Ward-Prowse made his first appearances since being recalled from his loan at Nottingham Forest and the introduction of Ferguson for Carlos Soler meant that West Ham finally had a focal point in attack.

Sign up to Football Daily. Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football. after newsletter promotion. Brentford’s centre-backs had cruised through the first half; now they faced a proper physical test. West Ham went more direct at the start of the second half and Ferguson almost had an assist when he drove a cross in from the right, only for Kudus to fire over from six yards. Paquetá and Scarles also had shots diverted to safety.