Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
For the first time in his West Ham United tenure, Nuno Espirito Santo saw his attack and his defence do the business in the very same game as Eddie Howe’s Newcastle were vanquished at the London Stadium.
Away to Everton on his first match in charge, West Ham carried a threat going forward but looked vulnerable at the back. In that 2-0 defeat by Arsenal, the Hammers kept Viktor Gyokeres quiet but struggled to even get out of their own half.
The less said about those miserable losses against Brentford and Leeds, the better.
At the fifth time of asking, though, West Ham United finally won a Premier League match under Nuno Espirito Santo on a day when they finally looked the part at either end.
Lucas Paqueta and Tomas Soucek scored, either side of a Sven Botman own goal, on a day when the Hammers’ frontline finally clicked. At the other end of the pitch, meanwhile, Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo were unrecognisable, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf patrolled their back posts manfully, and Alphonse Areola once again justified his inclusion between the sticks.
Alphonse Areola’s comments will be music to Nuno Espirito Santo’s ears at West Ham United
Nuno continues to select Areola over Mads Hermansen. And, while it was the Dane who recorded West Ham’s only clean sheet in the top-flight this season, the experienced Frenchman has proven to be an upgrade in almost all departments.
Particularly when it comes to defending set-pieces.
Nuno described West Ham’s dead-ball issues as their ‘big problem’ shortly after taking over. They have conceded nine in just ten league matches.
But, while marshalling Anthony Gordon and the prolific Nick Woltemade impressively in open play, the Hammers also dealt with Newcastle’s set-pieces very effectively at the London Stadium.
The previously porous and passive Kilman and Todibo completed 16 clearances between them, while Areola relished the chance to command his penalty box, punching balls clear and charging through the crowd to claim many a Newcastle cross.
His post-match reflections, on the togetherness, the spirit of West Ham and their all-too-rare dominance of set-piece situations, then, will be music to the ears of a head coach who must have wondered if his messages would ever get through.
“Good feeling. Good feeling for us, the team, for the fans,” Areola beamed, West Ham showing real resolve to bounce back from Jacob Murphy’s fourth-minute opener.
“Even if they scored the goal, we felt that we were solid, especially in the second half. They were more on top of us and we managed to keep the ball away.
“We avoided that [second] goal, and I think we felt we were solid and working all together to not concede again. We were talking about that in the locker room, we said that we felt comfortable and solid on set-pieces as well.
“Now, we have to keep it up and keep working on that. We have to use that win to do the same in the next one.”
Nuno says West Ham must use Newcastle win as motivation
Areola also made a handful of impressive saves from open play, particularly when denying Anthony Gordon at full stretch shortly after Paqueta’s drive had flashed through Nick Pope at the other end.
“The way the game started, we started really well. We hit the post in a fantastic move [through Jarrod Bowen], then they go back on the counter and they score,” Nuno said, delighted not to see heads drop for what would have been the umpteenth time this season already.
“It felt like everything again was against us. We had a penalty overruled. But the team kept going, the boys kept working very hard, organised and playing good.
“I think to win the way we did it, I think for us it’s to realise how important it is that we have to be organised, how important it is to work off the ball and how important it is to be compact, to be together, to not allow teams to play freely.
“Because after we have the ball we can consider and go forward, but as long as we are basically compact and solid in the way we want to approach the competition, in the Premier League especially, we cannot afford to not work harder, to sacrifice ourselves.