Nuno Espirito Santo was probably wary of coming over all Graham Potter-esque after his West Ham United side shipped five goals away to Liverpool in their 28th match of a punishing Premier League campaign.
Even after the heaviest of defeats, Potter frequently sounded like a manager desperately scrambling through haystacks in search of the smallest needle of positivity.
Nuno Espirito Santo, in contrast, is usually a more measured, reserved individual.
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So as he sat down for his post-match autopsy – West Ham United are eleven years without a win at Anfield and conceded five goals for the first time since Chelsea in August – it was maybe a surprise to see Nuno begin with the more impressive aspects of an error-strewn performance.
Nuno Espirito Santo sees the positives in West Ham United’s Liverpool loss
West Ham shot themselves in the foot by conceding three first-half goals; all from set-pieces. The sight of Axel Disasi turning the ball into his own net late on rather summed up a day in which a much-improved backline slipped into bad habits reminiscent of the darkest days under Graham Potter.
On the other hand, not that it will matter to many, West Ham won the ‘XG’ battle, had just one fewer shot on target than their hosts, and attacked with a great deal of verve and belief. In fact, there is an argument that West Ham were actually the better team between the two penalty areas in the opening 45 minutes, even if they trudged down the tunnel 3-0 behind.
“Sorry, it’s hard to explain and maybe it’s absurd to say that it’s a good performance when you lose 5-2. But there are a lot of positives in our game – and a lot of negatives also,” Nuno said. “You go in at half-time and you have your players in front of you and you say; ‘Boys, we are playing well, but we are losing 3-0!’.
Virgil van Dijk’s second goal was a controversial one – Joe Gomez was in an offside position but deemed not to be interfering with Mads Hermansen – though the Hammers only had themselves to blame for Cody Gakpo’s early opener and Alexis Mac Allister’s crashing volley.
“We created a lot of situations and combined well, but we really made mistakes on our set pieces and the first three goals came from corners,” adds Nuno, who saw Konstantinos Mavropanos, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek miss fine first-half chances.
“I think in the second-half we started well, scored early [through Tomas Soucek] and created problems for Liverpool. Things that can change the game. Being in front of you guys and saying that it is a good performance maybe sounds really silly from myself, but this is what I saw.
“I saw a team that didn’t give up, that believed they had a chance in the game, but we go home with a poor result.
“It’s frustrating [for the] coaching staff. [Set-piece defending] is something that we’ve been putting a lot of effort and time into to try to make it right. It’s something we’ve been dragging. I think at the beginning of the season it was [an issue], but recently there was a lot of improvement.
“Today, all the first three goals came from corner situations. There’s no other way to look at it: admit that we made mistakes and improve for the next one.”
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Alisson denied Soucek from point-blank range shortly before Mac Allister struck on the stroke of the interval. A crucial moment, perhaps, in a game when West Ham paid the price for giving up easy goals while also letting their hosts off the hook.
Bowen had already wasted one opening when failing to sort his feet out in time; Liverpool’s Brazilian goalkeeper bailing himself out following a terrible pass out from the back.
“The first-half is the reality of the game,” Nuno argues. “We had chances for Tomas and for Jarrod. We combined really, really well. Then there were the deflections; I don’t know how many goals came from deflections. It’s difficult.
“But you have to recognise that when you give space to the quality players of Liverpool, they can punish you. They did it.
“So, it’s strange, but there were a lot of positives. I think this week will require improvement on those details. But in terms of the game, the way the players were organised and their combined confidence [was evident].”
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