The reactions of the West Ham United squad viscerally encapsulated the emotional toll of conceding a stoppage-time goal.
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo almost fell to the turf, goalkeeper Mads Hermansen repeatedly punched the ground in frustration, midfielder Mateus Fernandes stared forlornly at the ground, defender Konstantinos Mavropanos held his head in his hands in disbelief, while Kyle Walker-Peters valiantly attempted to rally the troops.
Before second-half substitute Benjamin Sesko’s dramatic 96th-minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw, Nuno’s defensive game plan worked perfectly against Manchester United. They restricted the visitors to only two shots on target and nullified the threat of attacking quartet Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo, who had a combined total of three shots.
Nuno’s side were on the verge of sealing a fourth Premier League win in five games. But as in matches against Bournemouth and Chelsea, West Ham were unable to get over the line. They have now dropped 20 points from winning positions this season, the highest in the league.
Nuno’s arms were folded as he walked onto the pitch after the final whistle. Tomas Soucek, who scored the opener, was static with his hands on his hips, Callum Wilson looked to the heavens and Mavropanos lifted a dejected Hermansen from the ground. The goalkeeper had just been denied his third clean sheet of the season. Following the loss, West Ham remain in the relegation zone, two points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.
If the fellow relegation contenders beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday, the gap will be extended to five points. The fans who remained at the London Stadium applauded the players off the pitch. The clearest sign yet that the club have turned a corner under Nuno were the chants of “West Ham are massive everywhere we go” in the 84th minute. It was a reminder of a unity and feel-good factor we have seldom seen this season.
“The way we were for 95 minutes against Manchester United, you could tell we hit really good form at the minute as a team,” midfielder and academy graduate Freddie Potts told The Athletic. “We’ve seen that in the results and I think we nullified them, especially in the first half, because they’ve got dangerous attacking players. The main thing for us was to catch them on the counter-attack and we did that with Tomas’ goal, but we are all just gutted (that we didn’t win). Everyone’s really silent in the changing room. We’re annoyed but we’ve got a few games coming up that we think we can definitely win.
“In the build-up to this match, we did a lot of shape work, a lot of organisation and making sure everyone switched on for 90 minutes. We did that for the majority of the game, but it was just a great finish (from Sesko). There are a lot of positives from the game and there’s a massive togetherness. I feel like we’re giving more to the fans now as a team. I think that was one of the best atmospheres we’ve had this season. Everyone’s more together regardless of whether you’re playing or not. The lads that are coming on, everyone’s putting in a big shift and that’s all we can do.”
Nuno made one change from Saturday’s 2-0 win at Burnley, with Potts replacing Wilson in the starting XI. Hermansen retained his place in the team ahead of Alphonse Areola. Central-defensive pairing Mavropanos and Axel Disasi, the deadline-day loan signing from Chelsea, started together, while new signing Pablo Felipe was not in the matchday squad due to a knock. Felipe and defender Jean-Clair Todibo, who served the first of a three-game suspension, were in attendance to cheer on their team-mates.
There were other pleasing aspects in this performance, with club captain Jarrod Bowen registering his third assist of the season, Soucek scoring his 39th Premier League goal — the most by a Czech player in the competition’s history — and Fernandes excelling defensively with five tackles, the most in the match by an outfield player.
Even when West Ham’s league position was far more precarious, Nuno had belief that his side could avoid relegation. Aside from the on-field improvement, a contributing factor has been the appointment of first-team coach Paco Jemez. He joined in mid-January and it is the first time in his coaching spell he has worked alongside Nuno. The duo were team-mates at La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruna in the mid-1990s.
There was a mix of disappointment and pride for Nuno Espirito Santo on Tuesday (Ian Kington/AFP via Getty Images)
“Paco’s a crazy guy!” Soucek told The Athletic. “The manager and the staff around him, including Paco, are a big part of this transformation. In training, the sessions have improved massively. There is more intensity and we just have to keep building our momentum. Everyone is so honest and that’s changed (recently), we can see it with our results. We have to keep it up.”
Although the gap to Forest could be five points after Wednesday, the prospect of Premier League survival no longer appears onerous for West Ham. They played with great belief against an in-form United side. It is a sign of their progress under Nuno that a draw felt like a defeat. After their FA Cup fourth-round tie against League One side Burton Albion on Saturday, West Ham face Bournemouth (home), Liverpool (away), Fulham (away), Manchester City (home) and Aston Villa (away).
“It’s devastating to lose out on three points, but we can take positives from this match, Chelsea and Burnley,” said Soucek. “I feel the togetherness from my team-mates, I feel it at the training ground and from the fans. They were amazing today and we all know there’s only one goal for us now, which is to remain in the Premier League.
“Two months ago, not many people probably believed in us — they would have written us off. But we’ve changed our mentality, we fight for each other, we know what’s at stake and realise how difficult the situation is. We’ve said as a group that we can’t play like individual players, the team comes first and we can show our qualities. I’m just so happy that we’re starting to do that now.”