Brentford pile pressure on Hammers and Moyes

West Ham 0 Brentford 2

In a desperate bid to add colour to the blog Nigel has arrived at the Best Cafe on Thursday night, wondering why there's no-one in West Ham shirts and nothing about the game in the paper. After realising his mistake he foolishly elects to come again the next night and join Matt, Lisa, Fraser, Michael and myself in the London Stadium. 

Nigel is excited by the pre-match entertainment including The Trooper by Iron Maiden as well as applause for Pele. In another bid to add colour I'm wearing my "I'm Forever Blowing Baubles" Christmas WHU jumper — though Jimmy Walker might think I'm having myself in dodgy gear.

The West Ham side looks good on paper with Soucek, Kehrer and Antonio dropped, Ogbonna at centre back, Paqueta playing deeper and Scamacca back up front. WHU start well, with some crisp passing and Rice firing a great effort against the outside of the post. For the first 20 minutes we dominate with Dawson heading narrowly wide from a corner and Bowen having a close-range shot blocked. Dawson also has a strong appeal for a penalty ignored.

But goals change games and Brentford score from a simple flick-on after a long throw. Norgaad's shot is well-saved by Fabianski but Toney is quicker to react than Cresswell or Emerson and pokes home the rebound. We could do without his crossed hammers celebration.

West Ham respond with further pressure, with Rice and Benrahma prominent, and good work by Ogbonna sets up Emerson for a shot that is parried by Raya. But the second goal is a killer after 43 minutes. Another throw-on is flicked on and Cresswell is embarrassingly out-paced and out-muscled by Dasilva, who fires into the corner with a good finish.

The Hammers almost get back into it at the start of the second half as the ref awards a penalty for Mee's foul on Bowen. Only VAR rules the foul was outside the box and the free kick comes to nothing. West Ham toil away without looking much like scoring. Paqueta, so good from Brazil in the World Cup, misplaces simple passes and the £30m Scamacca looks lethargic, though does come to life to test Raya with a stinging shot he can't hold. Moyes even plays Scamacca and Antonio together for half an hour (the departing Emerson goes straight down the tunnel) though neither look like they can read the other's play. 

GOING DOWN WITH THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS?

Dawson does get in a header from a corner that Raya does well to tip over but Brentford see out the game fairly comfortably and Fabianski has to produce a great low save to prevent it being 3-0. "Show some urgency, just get it in the effing box!" shouts a Vicar's daughter behind us. Antonio sums it up by bustling past three players only to take a comical air-kick.

Even Fraser is beginning to lose faith in David Moyes. We could probably make Pele look poor on this form. "Said Benrahma he wants to come home!" chant the jubilant Brentford fans. 

So it's five defeats in a row and Moyes is now under serious pressure, despite the good work of the last two and a half seasons. Should we lose to Leeds, Wolves and Everton he will surely be out, though there aren't too many options to replace him. He has a point that we aren't getting much luck and played well in the first half, but it used to be West Ham who were clinical on the break and we are giving away silly goals. That's 19 league defeats in 2022 and the Bus Stop from Hounslow have joined Brighton as our bogey team.

We exit for the Refreshment Rooms where Michael is taken ill with a dose of ennui and Matt is wondering how he has been overlooked in the New Year's honours list for Services to Football Trivia. We've lost a must-win game with another at Leeds coming up. A dodgy penalty, a lucky rebound, we desperately need something to turn our season.

PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 7; Coufal 6, Dawson 7, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 4, Emerson 6 (Antonio 5); Rice 8, Paqueta 5 (Soucek 5), Benrahma 7; Bowen 6, Scamacca 5.