When even their own fans are shouting “You’ll be fired in the morning” and “Boring, boring West Ham” then the point of crisis seems to have been reached.
Kalvin Phillips was sent off as David Moyes’ influence on his job was again compromised, although the West Ham manager showed measured defense afterwards. Six days after the 6-0 home defeat against Arsenal, the West Ham United coach’s attempt to rely on the English midfielder on loan from Manchester City has failed miserably.
Moyes, whose contract expires in the summer, saw Phillips sent off for two bookable offenses after Taiwo Awoniyi scored the opener for Nottingham Forest, who moved from five points clear to their first three-point deficit of the calendar year to the relegation zone. This goal came in the fifth minute of injury time in the first half and Callum Hudson-Odoi scored the decisive goal at the end of the game in the fifth minute of injury time.
However, without Alphonse Areola in West Ham’s goal, Forest could have won far more. Nuno Espírito Santo’s team were everything West Ham were not: quick on the counterattack, always looking for the bolder option, solid behind a dynamic and hungry front and defending with pragmatism.
After Moyes ended his worst run as manager of the club with eight games without a win, which he last recorded in early 2020 when he began his second spell in charge, West Ham players walked over to applaud the traveling fans, some of whom held up banners The words “Moyes out” and “GSB out” refer to Vanessa Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady, the club’s owners.
Moyes has amassed credit on the bench at West Ham, who remain in the top half of the table, but this is offset by fan dislike. Having won the Europa Conference League last season, their first major title in 43 years, before selling Declan Rice for £105m, they can still look forward to a Europa League round of 16 next month. However, something rot seems to have set in since the injury to their playmaker Lucas Paquetá.
Moyes pointed out that victories over some of the Premier League’s top players, which took West Ham to sixth place, meant they were doing something right. And if Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal can have bad periods, “there is no divine right for West Ham not to have a difficult period”.
Moyes said: “We are doing very poorly as a team because we haven’t had good results for five or six weeks. But this season we beat Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. It wasn’t that long ago that we had good times. There were things that touched us, like the Africa Cup of Nations. Paquetá, we miss him very much… and the natural balance he brings.
“If you want to be a football manager who has managed 1,200 games, you will go through tough times.
“Let’s be fair, West Ham have had long periods of consistent growth and this has been a season of growth overall.
“I’m getting quite old and it’s hard to please everyone. Maybe they want something else, I don’t know. Maybe there were managers who excited them more, but the one sitting here wins more.”
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Phillips tried to show leadership but when he caught Morgan Gibbs-White with a late tackle in the 71st minute, three minutes after he had been booked for pushing on Nicolás Dominguez, West Ham’s day was over.
Areola was the main reason Forest didn’t win by a larger margin. The West Ham goalkeeper made three excellent interventions in the first half, namely a point-blank shot from Anthony Elanga, Gibbs-White and a tackle on Awoniyi, but these were surpassed by excellent saves from wonderful volleys from Elanga and Danilo in the second half .
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Luckily for Forest, Awoniyi scored in between. The Nigerian got the ball at the feet of Dominguez, converted Nayef Aguerd and scored his sixth Premier League goal of the season.
Forest have appointed former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg as referee analyst. His first task may 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, who was cautioned for his response, said: “Everyone is wondering, like me, why? What I expect from Mark is that he at least gives me an explanation of what is happening.”
