When even your own fans are chanting “You’re getting sacked in the morning” and “Boring, boring West Ham” then a crisis point appears to have been reached.
Kalvin Phillips was sent off as David Moyes’s hold on his job took another dent though the West Ham manager gave a measured defence afterwards. Six days after losing 6-0 at home to Arsenal, the West Ham manager’s gamble in placing faith in the England midfield player, on loan from Manchester City, is backfiring badly.
Moyes, whose contract expires in the summer, saw Phillips sent off for two bookable offences after Taiwo Awoniyi had opened the scoring for Nottingham Forest, who gained their first three-point return of the calendar year to move five points clear of the relegation zone. That goal came in the fifth minute of first-half added time and Callum Hudson-Odoi tapped home the clinching goal in the fifth minute of additional time at the end of the game.
Forest could have won by far more, however, if it had not been for Alphonse Areola in the West Ham goal. Nuno Espírito Santo’s team were everything West Ham were not: fast on the break, always looking to take the braver option, solid behind a vibrant and hungry front four and defending with pragmatism.
After Moyes equalled his worst run in charge of the club with eight winless games, last chalked up when he started his second stint at the helm in early 2020, the West Ham players went over to applaud the travelling supporters, some of whom held up banners saying “Moyes out” and “GSB out” referring to Vanessa Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady, the club’s owners.
Moyes has amassed credit in the bank at West Ham, who remain in the top half of the table, but this is balanced by the fans’ antipathy. Having won the Europa Conference League last season, their first major silverware in 43 years, before selling Declan Rice for £105m, they still have a Europa League last-16 tie to look forward to next month. Since their playmaker Lucas Paquetá was injured, however, a rot appears to have set in.
Moyes pointed out that victories over some of the Premier League’s leading lights that took West Ham to sixth place mean they have been doing something right. And if Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal can have bad spells, “there’s no divine right for West Ham not to have a dicky period”.
Moyes said: “We’re hurting really badly as a team because we’ve not had good results for five or six weeks. But this season we’ve beaten Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. It’s not so long ago we were having good times. There have been things which have affected us, such as the Africa Nations Cup. Paquetá, we’re hugely missing him … and the natural balance he brings.
“If you are going to be a football manager who has managed 1,200 games, you are going to have tough periods.
“Let’s be fair, West Ham have had long periods of constant growth and this has been a season of growth overall too.
“I’m pretty long in the tooth and it’s hard to please everybody. Maybe they want something different, I don’t know. Maybe there have been managers who excited them more but the one sitting here wins more.”
Phillips tried to show leadership but when he caught Morgan Gibbs -White with a late tackle in the 71st minute, three minutes after being booked for a push on Nicolás Dominguez, West Ham’s day was done.
Areola was the main reason Forest did not win by a greater distance. The West Ham keeper made three superb interventions in the first half, from Anthony Elanga’s point blank-range effort, Gibbs-White and tackling Awoniyi, but these were topped by superb saves from wonderful second-half volleys by Elanga and Danilo.
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Thankfully for Forest, Awoniyi scored in between. The Nigerian received Dominguez’s ball to feet, turned Nayef Aguerd and slipped home his sixth Premier League goal of the season.
Forest have appointed former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg as their referees’ analyst. His first task might be to explain why Thomas Bramall, the referee, did not award Forest a penalty in the 81st minute when Maxwel Cornet fouled Neco Williams. Nuno, cautioned for his response, said: “Everyone is asking themselves, like me, why? What I expect from Mark is to at least give me an explanation as to what is happening.”
