Just two days after taking over in the Hammers hot-seat, Nuno Espirito Santo made an unbeaten start to life down West Ham way with a determined, deserved draw at Everton on Monday night.
Following a surreal Saturday that saw under-fire Graham Potter clinically axed just five Premier League games into the new campaign, Jarrod Bowen’s 65th-minute equaliser wiped out Michael Keane’s first-half opener to secure a precious point for the new man in charge.
“It’s a small step but we’re still delighted with tonight’s result,” smiled the clearly pleased Portuguese head coach after his side mounted a stirring second-half fightback on their first-ever visit to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“This is a tough place to come to, and Everton are a very good team. We knew that there was going to be an intensity and we had to be competitive tonight. That’s the basics of any football match – you have to defend well and attack well, too.”
Making two switches from the side that had lost to Crystal Palace (1-2) in Potter’s last game at the Hammers helm, Nuno brought in Niclas Füllkrug for substitute Callum Wilson, while Soungoutou Magassa was handed his first start in Claret & Blue as James Ward-Prowse was omitted altogether.
“I only arrived here a couple of days ago and, in making my squad list, I had to try and find the players who could help the team tonight,” he insisted after the 1-1 draw.
“We’re still in the process of finding out about ourselves and when you first arrive at a football club you cannot change too much too soon. You’ve got to be slow and progressive as you try to find solutions and then you can start working on helping the players to improve.”
Unfortunately, however, it was business as usual when it came to this season’s corner curse.
Having already conceded seven times from flag-kicks this campaign, it was probably no surprise to see yet more Merseyside mayhem for the visitors on 18 minutes.
Although, Alphonse Areola managed to punch James Garner’s in-swinging corner clear from under his crossbar, Everton recycled the ball back out to left wing, where the Toffees midfielder then delivered another dangerous cross towards Keane, who got in front of Konstantinos Mavropanos to give Everton an interval lead with a looping 15-yard header.
Fortunately for the Hammers, David Moyes’ men failed to capitalise on their advantage and, midway through the second-half, El Hadji Malick Diouf’s deep left-wing cross skimmed off Keane’s head, allowing Bowen to cut into the Blues box and curl an unstoppable 15-yarder beyond England international team-mate Jordan Pickford to earn a share of the spoils.
“We were positive that our chances would start to come and I am very pleased for our fans, too, because we appreciate what they have done tonight” contended Nuno who now faces another tense, tricky trip to high-flying Arsenal on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
“They’ve come all the way to Liverpool on a Monday evening to support the boys and we know that we have to try to deliver for them again because we want to build a bond between everyone at this football club.”
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