In a week in which West Ham United mourned the passing of Upton Park legend Billy Bonds, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side showed the sort of fighting spirit their all-time record appearance maker would have been proud of.
Even away to this eternally baffling Manchester United outfit, few would have given Thursday’s visitors to Old Trafford much hope.
West Ham were without Lucas Paqueta and Crysencio Summerville, after all. Jarrod Bowen’s goal drought rumbles on, too. Eight without one, only five times in his West Ham United career has he endured a longer drought.
Yet, even with Tomas Soucek shoehorned out wide, with Konstantinos Mavropanos making only his second start since early-October and with Callum Wilson barely involved, Nuno’s Hammers again demonstrated that while quality may be in short supply, dogged determination is not.
The Londoners have picked up nine points post-Graham Potter, and eight of those were accumulated from losing positions.
Soungoutou Magassa was West Ham’s hero, converting an 83rd minute equaliser. Fellow midfielder dynamo Mateus Fernandes promised West Ham would fight ‘for every ball’ pre-match. He, and they, were as good as his word.
Few epitomise West Ham’s new-found never-say-die attitude better than Freddie Potts, meanwhile.
One particularly well-timed tackle to deny a goal-bound Bryan Mbeumo even had Sky Sports commentator Peter Drury engaging in some misty-eyed, sepia-tinged, Billy Bonds nostalgia.
Peter Drury says Freddie Potts made a Billy Bonds-esque tackle for West Ham United
Potts just ‘gets it’.
As vague a term as that may be, it feels the most fitting. An academy graduate born in Barking, Potts is living the dream day in day out for his beloved boyhood club. The last-ditch challenge he made to prevent Mbeumo going one-v-one with Alphonse Areola, Drury said, was straight out of the Bonds playbook.
“His dad [and now first-team coach Steve Potts] was part of the West Ham team who played here with Billy Bonds,” said Drury, always keen to dip into the history books and effuse about simpler times.
“There was something ‘Bondsy’ about that challenge.”
Nuno Espirito Santo delighted with Old Trafford fightback against Manchester United
Only Magassa made more interceptions than Potts, level with the peerless Aaron Wan-Bissaka on three. The trio of Potts, Fernandes and Magassa did not link up in the way Nuno had hoped against Liverpool four days earlier, but they certainly did here.
A tessellating triumvirate of tenacity and technique. There was even time for a Mohamadou Kante debut off the bench late on.
“We should be proud of the work of the boys. They worked really hard to contain Man Utd. We went for the game. The boys worked really hard. We have to be glad,” Nuno said after West Ham moved to within two points of 17th place Leeds ahead of Sunday’s trip to Brighton and Hove Albion.
“I was happy [when Magassa scored the equaliser]. I was very, very happy because I think we were on top of the game in that moment, we had momentum.”
Nuno hails Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Wan-Bissaka
While Man United legend Gary Neville was glowing in his assessment of Magassa, Nuno was keen to shine the spotlight on a much-improved if still-goalless Bowen and the exceptional Wan-Bissaka.
“I’m very pleased with the work of Jarrod,” the head coach added. “We are very happy to have him as a captain. He leads by example. He played an amazing game today.
“I think [Aaron Wan-Bissaka] played well. Our defence was OK. The goal we conceded came from a rebound. Nothing to do with organisation – the cover was there, the hard work was there. I think all of the defensive work was very very positive.
“It’s an important result because it’s a tough place to come. We are proud that we achieved something. It could have been three [points]. I felt we had good momentum. Man Utd, of course, also had some chances.
“But it doesn’t change anything. We are building, always looking for a better performance. We will recover faster for Brighton. When we have a good result, a good performance, the legs recover faster. So we’re going to have a tough match on Sunday, but with a better recovery.
“I thought that all of the performance – especially in the second half – the way that we recovered, the way that we played, the way that we combined, we created many problems for Man Utd.”
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