How soon is too soon to panic? How about when you blow a 2-0 lead at home against Watford to lose 4-2 and then chase that by going 4-0 down against West Brom – eventually sparking half a comeback to lose, again, by a scoreline of 4-2. This is a Hammers team that was on the fringes of the Champions League spots heading into the homeward stretch of last season, now conceding four to Tony Pulis’ West Brom. Do you know when the last time WBA scored four in a Premier League match was? I’ll save you the hassle, it was September 28 2014. They beat Burnley 4-0.

(They also beat West Ham 4-0 that season in the FA Cup – back in the Big Sam/Stewart Downing days. Brown Ideye got a double for WBA, yup).

And leaking four to Watford was no better. The Hornets up until then were winless all season, drawing against Southampton in their opener and then dropping the next two to Chelsea and Arsenal. Granted they did chase the WHU win with a 3-1 victory over Manchester United. Thanks to the efforts of Troy Deeney and Bros up front, Watford don’t have the same issues scoring goals as WBA do, having scored in every one of their games, but they also hadn’t scored four in a single Premier League game since beating Portsmouth 4-2 in 2006-07.

In isolation, these are two poor results against a couple of bottom-half teams. That’s only the start of the problem. 13 goals conceded in five Premier League matches, one win and four losses in those games. Just one win in six preseason games. Only one win from four and a playoff exit in the Europa League. And then you look at some of the goals they’ve conceded and it’s an absolute mess.

Every goal they leaked in that game was the product of sloppy defending. An outrageous handball from Arthur Masuaku where he seemed to take his eye off the ball with his arm dangling out and nobody else near him, for example. It’s hard enough to score a goal against anyone at this level so to hand them out for free like that almost defies belief.

Oh and how about this mess for the second goal? Angelo Ogbonna was getting his first start of the season, he chases the ball all the way out to the sideline where Masuaku finds himself standing a few metres directly in front of him. The communication is non-existent, either Ogbonna needs to be more disciplined and hold his position or Masuaku needs to tuck into the gap (not to mention the rest of the back four lagging so far away) but no, neither happens and instead there’s a gap in the defensive line that you could park an actual bus in, poetically.

Then Ogbonna gives the ball away. Cheikhou Kouyate is beaten to a 50/50 ball by Nacer Chadli who slips the ball unobstructed into Salomon Rondon. The Venezuelan turns and shoots before James Collins can be bothered to close him down and that’s 2-0. It was all so easy for the Baggies.

Just before the break it was 3-0 when Collins’ clearance from a corner fell straight to Chadli and his shot was turned into the net by James McClean, standing free on the edge of the six yard frame with room enough to be making snow angels in the grass.

Mate and the fourth might be the worst of all because it shows you just how shell-shocked they were by it all. Ten minutes into the second half, the Hammers win a corner and take it short. Nine men are in or around the box and the tenth is the dude who took the corner. They give it away. Rondon turns and runs from his own penalty area and is already in behind the entirety of the West Ham defence, eventually sliding it in for Chadli to score once he’d drawn the goalie out.

The genius of Dimitri Payet, as well as the aerial threat of Michail Antonio and the guise of Manuel Lanzini from the spot ensured that West Ham sparked half a comeback but the damage had long since been done and it was so avoidable. To put that in more perspective, West Ham had over 70% of possession in the match. Everything that went wrong was something that they can hold themselves accountable for.

And the goals they conceded against Watford were no better. Defensive miscommunication and flat-footed centre backs. It ain’t pretty to watch unless you’re cheering against them.

Slaven Bilic: "The problem is big. We can't say it is unlucky with some situations, or improve individual mistakes and we are going to be all right. It happens so many times since the start of the season - too many times. If we continue to defend like this as a team we can't win a Premier League game. We are weak and we have a problem. I don't want us to react, I want us to act. It is no time to panic but we have to act. We need to be aware of the situation and I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I am and I have to live with this 24/7."

Those are some serious words right there.

There are a few things that are going on with the Hammers that maybe aren’t contributing to particularly wonderful footy. Most notable is the change stadium. See, a year ago the Hammers were entering their final season at Upton Park and there was a bit of panic that a poor season would have a massive financial impact on the club as with the flashy new home and the costs of converting it into a footy stadium, ticket sales were gonna be crucial. So with the future in mind, they let Sam Allardyce walk and brought in Slaven Bilic. They made several superb signings. The idea was that this was a preparation season and anything better than relegation would be alright but instead they began with a win over Arsenal and it grew from there.

If they’d finished the season stronger then they might even have snatched fourth place, though losses to Swansea and Stoke ended that dream. Still, in between those they took on Manchester United in the final game at Upton Park and in a highly emotional game, they soared back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 with Winston Reid grabbing the winner. West Ham only lost three home league games last season, finishing seventh and earning a European spot.

Combine their best finish in 17 years with what was billed as a massive step forward in competing with the nation’s best with the move to London Stadium and optimism was therefore high. Dimitri Payet’s stunning form at the Euros didn’t exactly abate that either. But it hasn’t been that way in reality.

The first game at London Stadium was a 3-0 win over NK Domžale in the Europa League qualifiers. Then in the official opening they were beaten 3-2 by Juventus in a friendly – with Simone Zaza playing and scoring for Juve against the club he’d sign for a few weeks later. No worries there but then towards the end of August they took a 1-1 away leg result against Astra Giurgiu to London Stadium only to be defeated 1-0 by the Romanian champs. This was a few days after they barely scraped by ten-man Bournemouth, winning only thanks to an 85th minute Antonio goal. Two weeks later the Watford collapse happened and that’s their home stuff so far.

As if the on-field adjustment to the new ground wasn’t bad enough, it’s been worse among the fans where violence and unrest has been common – largely down to long-established fans clashing with the Johnny-Come-Latelys. “Where were you at Upton Park?” is a chant heard often down the Bobby Moore and Trevor Brooking stands. Issues with seating arrangements have been common, just as there have been issues with all sorts of match day tasks. According to a report on The Guardian, as many as 40 of the 140 stewards that moved with the club from the Boleyn have quit since the switch. These things can happen when you leave ground with a maximum attendance of 35000 people for one where they’ve sold out of over 50000 season tickets. Attendance against Watford was 20000 people more than anything they’d have dealt with before.

But, again, there’s more. The deal that West Ham got on the stadium was ridiculously in their favour. They’re working on a 99-year residency paying only £2.5m p/a and under the tenancy agreement, the club don’t have to pay for… well, hardly anything. Stadium utilities, pitch maintenance, policing, stewardship, changing rooms, security, cleaning, CCTV surveillance, scoreboards, jumbo screens, pest control, ticket offices & turnstiles, floodlighting, snow/ice clearing, pitch-side signage, drug testing, medical facilities and undersoil heating are all paid for by the London Legacy Development Corporation, a publically funded group that officially own the stadium. That may be a steal right there, but it’s also led to a difficult working environment between the two.

That’s all background info which is certainly contributing to the feel around the club but that cannot be the only factor in the start they’ve made. Which is where injuries come into things. Andy Carroll you expect to be hurt, that’s why they bought Simone Zaza. What they didn’t count on was Aaron Cresswell – WHU Player of the Season for 2015-15 - picking up a serious knee injury in a preseason friendly. This a player who had missed only one league game since joining the club.

That led to the quickfire purchase of Arthur Masuaku from Olympiacos and as you may expect his form has been a little patchy as he settles into England. Even aside from that outrageous handball on the weekend. It’s a short sample size so far through only five games but while Masuaku’s numbers (for what they’re worth) stack up really well defensively (bear in mind he’s played Chelsea and City already, two games spent doing a lot of defending), Cresswell was also able to be a key player going forward, scoring twice with four assists last campaign, without being caught out at the back. The balance he provides was never going to be easily replaced. Masuaku enjoys a mazy dribble but he loses the ball too easily and his positioning at the back has been erratic.

And it’s not like he’s the only injury either. Andre Ayew was bought from Swansea, becoming their record transfer, and he lasted only 35 minutes in his debut before going down with a thigh injury. He avoided surgery but won’t be available until November at the absolute earliest. Likewise Sofiane Feghouli has only just returned from injury while Manuel Lanzini, Winston Reid and Sam Byram have all missed games – all were regulars towards the end of last season. Not to mention arguably the biggest loss of them all which was Dimitri Payet. The Frenchman played in the European Championship final so was late to return and wasn’t ready to play until very recently – his only two starts being the Watford and WBA games and he set up three of the four goals they scored in those ones.

Poor finishing and dull creativity were to blame for their Europa League exit and Payet at least solves that problem. However he’s not got much effect on the defence that is making so many errors and that’s what’s costing them. When it comes to defending, individual expertise isn’t as important as structure and scheme. Familiarity is the key to all that and this here doesn’t help:

vs Chelsea: Antonio/Collins/Reid/Masuaku
vs Bournemouth: Byram/Collins/Reid/Masuaku
vs Man City: Collins/Reid/Ogbonna (3-5-2)
vs Watford: Byram/Collins/Reid/Masuaku
vs West Brom: Nordtveit/Collins/Ogbonna/Masuaku

See they haven’t played the same backline in consecutive games this season. The switch to three at the back is something that Bilic likes to do against the top teams and it worked well last season. It worked fairly well here too, to be honest, as they had that game at 2-1 after Antonio’s goal – Pep’s boys played them off the park but they were one lucky break away from equalising for a while there in the second half. Three different right backs in the four games they’ve employed one though, that’s bloody ridiculous.

Albeit not unexpected. RB has been a problem for this team for a long time, with Carl Jenkinson, James Tomkins, Byram and Antonio all playing there regularly last campaign. Antonio is a proper winger but one with a bit of size and strength about him so he can fill in there on occasion but Hammers fans tend not to be too favourable towards that idea. At this stage in his career, he’s filler in that position, although part of the reason for him continually playing there was that he was playing so well he couldn’t not be picked. Jenkinson and Tomkins have both gone and Sam Byram was a January buy with an eye on making that position his own.

Fantastic result and great to score on my full debut! @CPFC #CPFC @premierleague #CRYSTK pic.twitter.com/5couwfaopi
— James Tomkins (@TomkinsOfficial) September 18, 2016

It was the same kinda deal as the Cresswell one – a young English player getting regular footy in the Championship. Michail Antonio could go in that category too. However Byram hasn’t found anything like the consistency of Cresswell and while the 23 year old has plenty to work with, he’s also inexperienced and that shows through when he’s exposed one v one and with the ball at his feet. It might be a year or two before he can command a regular starting spot, so the Hammers reacted by bringing in Alvaro Arbeloa on a 12-month contract. Problem is he hasn’t been ready to play yet. He’s getting there though, and you can probably make that four RBs in five next game if he’s good to go. Arbeloa’s the opposite of inexperienced, he might be exactly what they need (and one helluva mentor for Byram too).

In a lot of ways, you could say the season started a month too early for West Ham. You might also want to suggest (don’t kill me, WHU fans) that perhaps Cheikh Kouyate and Mark Noble are not a particularly great midfield and that they aren’t shielding their back four well enough. Well, Kouyate’s pretty good. Havard Nordtveit has also been playing there and let’s just say he hasn’t quite settled yet.

The reason for that being he’s newly signed from Borussia Monchengladbach. Just as Masuaku, Gokhan Tore, Ashley Fletcher, Simone Zaza, Andre Ayew, Jonathan Calleri and Sofiane Feghouli are all new signings as well and all eight of them have seen pitch time in the league already. Arbeloa will make it nine. That many new faces are of course going to affect things. Football is one of those sports where it’s a necessity to add to your squad every season, you have to keep evolving or you’ll be left behind as the game moves too fast, but there’s such thing as too much new blood. Remember as well that Dimitri Payet, Michail Antonio, Sam Byram, Angelo Ogbonna, Pedro Obiang and Manuel Lanzini were all bought last season as well. At what point is it no longer the same team?

Can't wait to see all the negative people hide away when we beat West Brom on Saturday. Best squad in ages and still got the moaners 😂😂
— West Ham Central (@WestHam_Central) September 15, 2016

Plus there’s the thought that this season’s haul is kinda weak compared to last season’s. I don’t really buy that. Sure, there’s no Dimitri Payet but they don’t need another of him – they already have one. Zaza and Arbeloa are gonna be starters. Nordtveit has that same potential, as does Andre Ayew. Masuaku is filling a need and Feghouli could well prove an outstanding addition. Hey, the Algerians at Leicester have done alright.

As for the dumb errors, there really isn’t an explanation for those. Not unless you wanna argue that James Collins is simply not that good of a player. His form at the Euros defies that… but maybe that’s a cause in itself. At 33 years old, he might be feeling the lack of rest more than most. While he (along with Adrian and Kouyate) has been ever-present this Premier League season, Ginge has also been the closest fella watching as some joker slammed one into the bottom corner on more than a couple occasions already. As Bilic implied, there have been too many dumb mistakes leading to goals to assume that it’ll even out. This has been a recurring thing ever since Allardyce left (check out the goals conceded when they lost 4-3 to Bournemouth last season) and now it’s become a crippling trend. That’s one for the manager alone to speculate about.

When Leicester won the Premier League, they didn’t do it because of one main reason – there were thousands of little things that went their way, such as shots that found the top corner at one end or hit the post at the other, and a few very big things. Getting N’Golo Kante for bugger all. The emergences of Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater and Riyad Mahrez all at once. Claudio Ranieri doing so poorly with Greece that a relegation threatened team became a viable option for him. Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all having seasons that saw them give their managers the flick. All sorts of things aligned for that to happen.

Just as there are a whole bunch of things contributing to West Ham’s terrible start, from their stadium to their transfer business to their injury list and some stupid errors. Individually you can deal with those dramas but when they all happen at once, you go and conceded eight goals in two games to a pair of teams that finished thirteenth and fourteenth in 2015-16. The question now is how much of this is gonna come right by itself and how much, to put it as succinctly as possible… won’t.