Nuno sack a kindness as doomed West Ham set two embarrassing records amid huge Leeds United boost

West Ham United look doomed and Nuno Espirito Santo could do with an escape route, while Leeds United are far more likely to survive this season…

The West Ham United supporters travelling north for a cold, rainy Friday night in Leeds, expecting a reaction after Monday’s shambolic 2-0 loss to Brentford, had their little remaining optimism quashed almost immediately.

From minute one, it was clear who the likely winner of this early-season Premier League six-pointer would be, with Leeds United‘s far superior desire contributing to their opening goal after three minutes.

It came via Leeds United’s first chance of the game, with Jayden Bogle’s deep cross to the back post finding Noah Okafor as the lively summer signing got the jump on 19-year-old Olvier Scarles, who was well out of his depth before his game was cut short due to injury after 25 minutes.

Scarles’ naivety allowed Okafor to get a shot away, which was palmed by goalkeeper Alphonse Areola straight to Brendan Aaronson to convert at the rebound.

West Ham really could not have made it easier for Leeds to make a dream start, and there was a feeling of inevitability once Gabriel Gudmundsson’s advancing run earned the hosts their first corner of the match.

This Hammers side has a lot of issues, but one of their most alarming is their inept inability to defend corners, so Joe Roden meeting Sean Longstaff’s pinpoint set-piece to head home was not the least bit surprising.

It was well-worked from Leeds, but it was unforgivable from West Ham’s perspective; Lucas Paqueta’s ‘defending’ was the epitome of a forward refusing to do the dirty work as he made a weak attempt to mark Rodon, who strolled into space to have a free header inside the six-yard box.

By this point, the Sky Sports cameras were regularly panning to West Ham boss Nuno, who is already among the favourites to be the next Premier League manager sacked, and if I were to guess what he was asking himself, I’d say: ‘Why the f*** did I say yes to managing this lot?’

READ: Nuno sack and West Ham relegation would make double history after ‘f***ing stupid’ decision

Nuno had the look of a man already deeply regretting his decision, with the former Nottingham Forest boss, like Ange Postecoglou, foolishly rushing back into management instead of waiting for a more stable and promising opportunity elsewhere.

The current West Ham boss left Forest fully intact following the second-most brutal mid-season Premier League sacking, but he’s wasted an opportunity with his next move, as he could have done so much better than taking the thankless task of trying to save this basket case of a football club.

And four games into his West Ham tenure, it already feels like Nuno is fighting a losing battle with this group of players, who have set the record for the most goals conceded from corners after nine Premier League games (nine), which is six more than their nearest rivals this season.

The Hammers have also conceded the most goals overall this season (20), have the third-worst attack with only six goals and now have their worst-ever start after nine games in the Premier League; it’s worrying to think where they would be without star man Jarrod Bowen amid their severe lack of dynamism, goal threat and backbone.

At this point, it would be a kindness of the West Ham board to put Nuno out of his misery and put his appointment down to a bad exercise, because, following years of mismanagement behind the scenes, this club is only going in one direction, and the renowned firefighter in the dugout needs a quick escape to salvage his declining reputation.

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Still, Leeds United deserve credit because this victory, which came via a late scare following Mateus Fernandes’ consolation, feels pretty big.

Last week’s loss to Burnley was a major disappointment, but the underlying numbers for this match indicated that the West Yorkshire side, other than lacking a clinical edge, did little wrong.

In the rest of their games, Leeds have only been blown away by Arsenal and have been in touch with all other opponents, with their solid defence levelling out the issues provided by their goal-shy forwards.

Leeds have joined their fellow promoted sides in adopting a pragmatic approach following promotion to boost their survival chances, and this sets up a tense relegation battle involving five or six teams, which is long overdue.

If Leeds are to avoid relegation, they must make Elland Road a fortress, and they are on track to do so; sitting ninth in the Premier League home table with two wins, two draws and one loss, which is especially impressive considering they have faced Spurs, Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Everton.

Obviously, there is a long way to go and Leeds are not without their frailties, but the win over West Ham lays down a great marker for what’s ahead and they certainly look to have a greater chance of survival than tonight’s opponents…

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