After last night’s disaster, West Ham United fans probably wish the international break had never come to an end.

Nuno Espírito Santo took charge of his first home Premier League match against Brentford, and to say the Hammers let him down would be a colossal understatement.

It was one of the most disappointing, lethargic and worrying performances from the East Londoners for some time, one worthy of a side heading for the drop.

There were shocking displays all over the pitch from the hosts, with Lucas Paqueta and another starter now becoming a genuine concern.

West Ham's growing Paqueta problem

So it should almost go without saying that, when he’s on song, Paqueta has the ability to be one of the best creative midfielders in the Premier League.

After all, there was a point in time when he looked set for a move to Manchester City, and then over the summer, fans were delighted when a potential move to Aston Villa didn’t happen.

However, the unfortunate reality is that the Irons faithful have not seen the mercurial Brazilian anywhere near his best for quite some time now.

For example, in 36 appearances across all competitions last season, totalling 2536 minutes, the former Lyon star scored just five goals, which is an average of one every 7.2 games, or every 507.2 minutes.

There were signs of him potentially recovering his form earlier this season when he had three goals to his name by transfer deadline day. Still, since then, he has failed to score or assist a goal, and his overall performances have taken a nosedive.

Monday night was probably his worst display so far, and while he was played out of position to replace the injured Niclas Füllkrug, he still needed to offer more than he did.

For example, in 94 minutes of inaction, he amassed a combined expected goal and assist figure of just 0.12, took a single shot, which wasn’t on target, took 61 touches but failed to complete a single dribble, lost the ball 23 times, misplaced 100% of his crosses and more.

Minutes

94′

Expected Goals

0.04

Goals

0

Expected Assists

0.08

Shots on Target

0

Shots Off Target

1

Touches

61

Lost Possession

23

Dribbles (Completed)

1 (0)

Key Passes

0

Crosses (Accurate)

2 (0)

Duels (Won)

20 (7)

In short, it was a total horror show of a performance from Paqueta and yet more reason for fans to worry about his form, which could be said about another starter.

The West Ham star becoming a problem under Nuno

The unfortunate reality of the matter is that, at this point in time, you could make the case for a handful of West Ham players being a problem for Nuno.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

The likes of Kyle Walker-Peters and Oliver Scarles, for example, had to come off at half-time on Monday, and Guido Rodriguez looked lost when he came on.

However, a player who is even more of a concern than they are at this moment is Max Kilman.

The former Wolverhampton Wanderers star joined the Hammers for around £40m last summer, and while there have been moments in which he has justified that price, there have not been any this season.

Moreover, in the three games since the new manager has come in, the Englishman has been a hindrance to the side, and it’s hard to see when that might stop being the case.

For example, against the Bees, he looked a mess, unsure of when to close down on players and then, for the opener, he just sort of sticks a leg out in an attempt to get the ball off Kevin Schade.

He also fails to intercept the cutback for the second one, lending credence to one content creator who described his performance as “diabolical.”

Finally, Nuno can’t even really take him out of the team for the next game, as Konstantinos Mavropanos went off with an injury late on.

Ultimately, while almost every West Ham player was poor on Monday night, Kilman’s form is starting to become a big issue.