Nuno issues honest verdict on Taty Castellanos after West Ham United lose to Brentford
Nuno Espirito Santo remains convinced that Taty Castellanos will score goals.
The Hammers boss was speaking during his post-match press conference after West Ham United’s miserable 3-0 defeat to Brentford.
While West Ham were well beaten in west London, Nuno’s side did hit the woodwork three times while also seeing a goal ruled out.
On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you about staying up now? 👀
Castellanos – who has long been criticised for a lack of cutting edge at Premier League level – hit the post twice.
Some supporters may well disagree but Nuno has faith in the Argentine international.
Nuno convinced that Castellanos will score goals
Castellanos missed several good chances during West Ham’s defeat to Brentford and while that will only increase the level of criticism he tends to get, Nuno believes it was an abnormality.
Reflecting on his side’s wasted opportunities and asked if he took the forward off due to a lack of composure while on a booking, Nuno said: “Many things that we decide. Many things that I decide. On a normal day, Taty will score for the amount of times that he had by fine margins.
“So, it was about keeping the team and all the players available for the rest of the fight that we have.”
What did YOU make of the refereeing controversy at Brentford?
No pen on Soucek? Really?
Sadly for Nuno, he does not have time to wait. Though it was reasonably promising to see his team create chances against a good team in Brentford, they don’t really mean all that much now when the stakes are so high.
Taty Castellanos stats vs Brentford
In his 65 minutes on the pitch, the former Lazio star hit the woodwork twice, missed one genuinely big chance and had seven touches in the opposition box (per FotMob data).
It was a performance full of energy and industry, but not much in the way of quality in front of goal.
Castellanos is clearly a worker, there can be little doubt about that. Still, that lack of genuine cutting-edge quality at the very highest of levels did come back to bite the Hammers over in west London.
It does indeed raise concern about the final three games of the season when the margins are so tight.
Castellanos has broadly done well since signing for West Ham but the question marks aren’t going away.
