The Nottingham Forest defeat was the third league match where West Ham conceded three goals, which signifies their defensive struggles in the ongoing season. Although new signings such as Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have been brilliant in the defence, occasional defensive mistakes and a few tactical decisions have led Julen Lopetegui's side to concede nineteen goals in ten matches.
The three centre-back formation of Mavropanos, Kilman, and Todibo weren't convincing in their decision making in the first half, which was clearly evident in Nottingham Forest's first goal. Mavropanos was dribbled by Alex Moreno on the right flank, and Chris Wood was left unmarked by Kilman, Todibo, as well as defensive midfielder Edson Alvarez.
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen assesses Hammers performance after 3-0 defeat
Also, Todibo and Mavropanos left a lot of empty spaces near the edge of the box, and Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White constantly created huge goalscoring chances to double their lead before half-time. The West Ham fans were left unimpressed by this lackluster first half display, however, club captain Jarrod Bowen applauded West Ham’s defensive resilience to avoid conceding a lot of goals, saying,
"They obviously scored the goal, which we’re disappointed with, as it was quite an easy goal to concede.Jarrod Bowen
Like I said, defensively, we’ve done well in the first half. Obviously, we conceded a goal, but we still limited them."
While the Hammers were only behind by one goal before half-time, Nottingham Forest dominated the visitors in both the passing as well as chances creation stats. On top of that, Edson Alvarez's red-card led the home side to continue their good momentum and convincingly win the game.
Although Nottingham Forest had been playing well in the English top flight, West Ham were expected to show an encouraging performance as they took a thrilling 2-1 win over Manchester United last week. Now, an improved performance in the Everton fixture is much-needed otherwise, West Ham can be ten points behind the sixth-placed team before the international break.