West Ham United look to be in absolute free fall at the moment.
Not even the new appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo has been able to stop the Premier League losses from piling up in East London, with the forlorn Hammers at least thankful to Wolverhampton Wanderers for picking up no wins to keep them off the very foot of the division.
Still, West Ham only have the one dire win from nine league matches themselves, as the ex-Nottingham Forest boss grows increasingly concerned that he is steering the ship straight down to the Championship.
Max Kilman has received plenty of pelters in recent weeks for his disastrous performances at the back, with the £40m recruit looking anything but a stable presence defensively in the daunting Premier League.
Kilman's woes at West Ham this season
With Kilman in the heart of defence this season, West Ham have leaked a shambolic 20 goals already in league action, which is the worst defensive record in the entire division.
He isn’t helped by his regular partner being Jean-Clair Todibo, who has just one clean sheet in claret and blue from 30 Premier League appearances, but the ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers man is very much on borrowed time when focussing in on the number 3’s woes, having been descrobed as “shocking” by one West Ham content creator during the 2-0 loss to Brentford last month.
Igor Thiago for the Bees completely bullied the weak 28-year-old all night long, with Kilman’s feebleness in the air, and when going in for duels one major concern. Indeed, he won only two of his eight duels against Keith Andrews’ visitors.
He did improve on this weak area against Leeds United last time out, with 100% of his aerial duels successfully won, but he still isn’t in the West Ham fans’ good books off the back of a debut season in East London that saw him collect just six clean sheets from 38 league outings.
His ex-Old Gold manager in Gary O’Neil has even opened up to state that one of Kilman’s biggest problems is his frustrating nature to “switch off” during games, with Nuno now potentially wanting to get rid having seen how shoddy the 6 foot 4 defender has been already during the early stages of his West Ham managerial career.
Thankfully, in the long term, West Ham could already have an in-house replacement for the £40m flop.
West Ham's "unreal" Kilman replacement
Nuno could look towards the next generation emerging up the ranks at West Ham to try and breathe life back into his side’s disastrous season, with Freddie Potts one face who could be deserving of a senior shot soon.
Alongside Potts, Kaelan Casey also looks ready for some first-team action imminently, having already been labelled as an “outstanding” asset to have at Swansea City by his short-term boss Alan Sheehan, after not looking fazed by the challenge of Manchester City in the EFL Cup.
Minutes played
90
Interceptions
0
Clearances
14
Blocked shots
2
Recoveries
3
Total duels won
5/5
Total tackles won
2/2
Last man tackles
1
Looking at his numbers above, Sheehan was right to shower the 21-year-old with praise, with Swansea in danger of being on the receiving end of a drubbing without Casey stepping up to the mark, as seen by the number 26 registering a mammoth 14 clearances all across the 3-1 defeat, on top of winning every single duel and tackle that came his way.
With a full EFL season soon to be under his belt, it’s clear that Casey could soon be fast-tracked to the first team picture back at the London Stadium, having already lined up for three senior games for his boyhood employers.
He also has 106 games next to his name for the Hammers U18s and U21s, with Declan Rice once even labelling Casey as an “unreal” talent off the back of him scoring 11 goals as a dependable defensive figure in youth football.
Kilman will know that he’s on borrowed time in East London, and if Casey returns with even more impressive showings to boast about – like his imperious night against City – he will soon surely be demoted down the pecking order for the 21-year-old to shine.
