Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard help Brighton maintain their unbeaten start to the season

David Moyes kidded at his pre-match press conference that he kept forgetting how to pronounce his new signing’s Thilo Kehrer name. This was not the way to be remembered.

The 25-year-old German’s full debut can only be filed under the ‘nightmare’ category. The way he recklessly slid in on Danny Welbeck to concede a penalty to Brighton, scored by Alexis Mac Allister, was not what West Ham thought they were getting when they went shopping in Paris.

The £10.1million signing from PSG will not look back on this day proudly. Neither will his defensive partner Kurt Zouma, whose performance was equally as poor at a frustrated London Stadium, or any of his new team-mates.

The Belgian latched onto Pascal Gross’ flick on to slot past a diving Lukasz Fabianski

Trossard excelled on the right flank for the Seagulls as he opened his account for the season

Alexis Mac Allister had opened the scoring in the 22nd minute from the penalty sport

This prolongs a miserable start to the season for Moyes and West Ham. That’s three Premier League games and three defeats. Zero goals scored, too, and the last time that happened to this club was 51 years ago in the First Division.

Mac Allister’s spot kick opened the scoring after less than half an hour in east London

‘It’s happened again,’ sang Brighton’s supporters on repeat, referring to the fact they are West Ham’s bogey team. Eleven times they’ve faced each other now in the Premier League and the Hammers have never won.

Brighton were the better team from the get-go. They had the lead before 22 minutes and oh what a calamity it was from a West Ham point of view.

Zouma tried to play a pass forward but Mac Allister intercepted it on the halfway line and Leandro Trossard broke forward. Trossard fed Welbeck, whose run into the box was smart. Kehrer followed him and foolishly slid in.

Kehrer got none of the ball but all of Welbeck. A clear foul and referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the penalty spot. VAR Lee Mason studied the footage to make sure it was inside of the box. It was on the line and therefore a spot-kick.

Mac Allister stepped up, sent Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way, and made it 1-0. Not the way Zouma and Kehrer wanted their first duet in defence to go.

Hammers debutant Thilo Kehrer gave away the foul that led to the penalty in a debut to forget

Danny Welbeck was fouled by the German defender as he broke into the West Ham box

West Ham’s supporters weren’t happy. They were groaning whenever an attack died a death and were stupefied when some nonexistent communication between Fabianski and Kehrer saw the two collide.

Moyes’s assistants Billy McKinley and Mark Warburton like to sit near the press box at the London Stadium as it affords them more of a bird’s-eye view of the match. They departed for the dressing room at the end of the first half, their faces showing they clearly weren’t happy. Neither were the supporters, who booed at the half-time whistle.

Only once in West Ham’s history had they lost each of their first three league games in a season without scoring, doing so in the First Division in 1971-72. They needed a goal in the second half to avoid repeating that record.

To their credit, West Ham came out fighting. Brighton were being forced back into their own half and the home support found their voice. Pablo Fornals stinging the palms of Robert Sanchez from 18 yards was as close as West Ham got to equalising, however, and so on came Gianluca Scamacca. Here was an opportunity for the club’s new £35.5m striker to save the day.

Graham Potter’s side now move up to fourth in the Premier League table with seven points

The loss means that West Ham’s wait for a goal and a single point is set to continue

Kehrer’s horror debut was compounded after he received the game’s first yellow card

Instead it only got worse for West Ham. Mac Allister played a pass forward, Pascal Gross flicked it behind and Trossard sprinted into a big empty space left by Zouma. He slotted the ball beneath Fabianski for 2-0 and the game was Brighton’s.

Moyes’s men may have been the domestic disruptors over the last two seasons as they made an unlikely push to upset the Premier League’s top four, but they’re now struggling.

This could be a long old campaign for West Ham based on what we’ve seen thus far. The boos at full time tell you the supporters are fearful of that, too.

The Hammers now fall to the bottom of the table with no goals from three opening games

David Moyes was unable to build on a 3-1 European win over Viborg on Thursday