‘Not good enough’: West Ham boss reflects on a ‘disappointing’ evening after 2-0 defeat vs Brentford | OneFootball

West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo has admitted that his side were “not good enough” after marking his home debut with a 2-0 defeat against Brentford in the London derby.

Nuno bemoaned a “disappointing” performance from his side as goals from Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen on either side of half-time sentenced West Ham to their sixth Premier League defeat this term.

The 51-year-old was brought in to salvage West Ham’s campaign, but he’s off to a rough start, having now lost two of his opening three games in charge (D1).

The Hammers hardly looked threatening on their own turf. Caiomhin Kelleher had little to do in the Brentford goal as West Ham managed a meagre seven shots but could only get one on target.

By contrast, the Hammers conceded 22 shots, seven on target, and were fortunate to lose by only a two-goal margin, with the Bees hitting the woodwork twice.

Nuno’s side also conceded five big chances, highlighting the uphill task ahead of the Portuguese manager.

Speaking after the game, Nuno said (via BBC): “Today was a disappointing evening because it was a disappointing performance. It was not good enough.

“I think we had a good spell. In the first 15/20 minutes we had a good spell and there’s a chance and then after that we got ourselves in trouble.”

Nuno made a flurry of changes at half-time to try and salvage a result, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf, and Konstantinos Mavropanos replacing Kyle Walker-Peters, Oliver Scarles, and Mateus Fernandes.

He admitted that he wanted his side to “try and close down and stay in the game”, but it backfired as the Bees maintained their dominance in the second half.

Nuno then rallied his troops to “improve the situation” and called for “responsibilities, commitment, hard work, and a little bit more conscious effort” from his side.

The Hammers set two unwanted records on the night, losing their opening four home games for the first time in club history to mark their worst-ever start to a season.