Nuno Espirito Santo did not want to criticise his West Ham United players too much in the immediate wake of their 5-2 defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.
Though the Irons weren’t exactly dreadful for the entirety of Liverpool’s 5-2 win over West Ham, it doesn’t really matter at this stage of the season.
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Indeed, West Ham are two points from safety with only ten games left, while 17th-placed Nottingham Forest have a game in hand over them.
They became only the second team to concede from three corners in the first half of a Premier League game in the competition’s history, but Nuno wasn’t in the mood to throw his players under the bus.
Nuno thinks West Ham played well against Liverpool and won’t be too critical
Speaking to reporters during his post-match press conference at Anfield, a positive-looking Nuno admitted that saying his team played well in a 5-2 defeat might sound “silly”.
The 52-year-old, however, says that he did in fact see a good performance.
He said: “Being in front of you guys and saying that it’s a good performance may sound really silly from myself, but this is what I saw. I saw a team that didn’t give up. They believed that they had a chance in the game, but we go home with a poor result.”
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Taty Castellanos and other West Ham United players look dejected after Liverpool score their first goal against them in the Premier League clash on 28/02/2026.
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Had this result come at an earlier stage of the campaign, perhaps those words would be more palatable. A defeat in which you play well at Anfield is hardly a disaster, after all.
Still, it’s hard to take all that many positives at this stage of the season. There are only ten games left and West Ham are at real risk of taking a major financial hit in the event of relegation.
Nuno Espirito Santo during Liverpool v West Ham United - Premier League
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There isn’t really a lot of time for sentiment. Yes, the Irons played reasonably well here – but who cares? West Ham were their own biggest enemy at Anfield, and largely did Liverpool’s job for them, such was their inability to defend corners.
West Ham have certainly played worse this season but does that really matter at this stage? Almost certainly not.
Points are what matters and West Ham, as is always the case at Anfield, leave with none of them.
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