West Ham: Positives to take but plenty to work on after Everton draw, says Nuno Espirito Santo | OneFootball

The Portuguese is ready to build on an encouraging first day at the office

Nuno Espirito Santo highlighted defence as an area where West Ham must improve after his first match in charge ended in a 1-1 draw with Everton.

Nuno took to the dugout for the first time just three days after signing as Graham Potter’s replacement, with Jarrod Bowen’s second-half effort cancelling out Michael Keane’s opener to ensure the points were shared at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Reviewing his first match in charge, Nuno said it was too soon to draw conclusions about the state of his squad, but admitted there was plenty West Ham could improve on.

“It was a tough game, the reaction of the boys was good and I think overall we competed well,” he told Sky Sports.

“The boys are slowly understanding that a football match is also about how we close our own goal, how many chances we concede.

“That is something we have to work for. It is too soon to evaluate them or for them to evaluate me. It is three days, there is nothing in our history.”

He continued, saying this match would provide the basis for him to analyse and adjust his approach.

Michael Keane was in plenty of space as he headed home to open the scoring

Martin Rickett/PA Wire

“We have to learn so many things. There are some positives, there are some negatives, but now it is about analysing and trying to find the right solutions.

“A lot of things we have to improve, a lot a lot of things, but this game will be the tool we use to move forward. Now we are going to analyse.

“It is all about knowing the players better, trying to take the right decisions in the right moments. Things will come naturally. It is about taking the right steps forward.

“What I saw in the goal we conceded is we should have been more aggressive, more close to Keane. In the second half we started defending better. Everything starts from there, I think. We started well in that aspect.

“Our message today was very clear. It was about competing as a team, being close to each other, and the boys did well. Overall, it is a good first game for us.”

Club captain Bowen said he and his teammates were ready to get to work under Nuno: “I think we have all been in football long enough, and we know change happens. Teammates go, managers go, but we are professionals.

“We have a really good group here that really wants to work hard and change our fortunes. I think you saw that tonight. We’ve had Nuno now for two days and I thought we put in a really good performance.”