Nuno: 'We let them down' after West Ham beaten 2-1 at home by Charlton
Nuno Espirito Santo's West Ham were beaten 2-1 by Charlton at the London Stadium in a Championship match on Saturday, and the manager said the club had "let down" the large crowd.
West Ham entered the season expected to contest for an immediate return to the top flight following relegation in May but have taken one point from their opening two league games. They had surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw at Burnley in the first match of the campaign and then lost at home as Taty Castellanos missed a stoppage-time penalty that might have salvaged a point.
Charlton took the lead inside seven minutes when Lloyd Jones scored after a long throw-in bounced inside West Ham's penalty area. Tyreece Campbell doubled the visitors' advantage shortly after the interval following a dispossession of Konstantinos Mavropanos near his own penalty area, and Castellanos failed to convert a late spot kick.
Nuno, the former Wolves and Nottingham Forest boss, highlighted his side's control of the ball and their attacking returns while assessing the defeat: "We created a lot of situations but we weren't accurate enough in the boxes," he said after his team had more than 77% of possession and finished on an expected goals total of 2.96 to Charlton's 0.57. "We have to defend much better. We had a lot of possession and tried to break them down, which is not easy."
On the emotional impact of the result, Nuno pointed to the size of the crowd and the pressure associated with managing West Ham. "It's West Ham, the pressure is every day. "It's a big club. You just see our fans - there were 62,000 people in the stands and we let them down. "This is the more disappointing feeling."
Responding to a suggestion that large home attendances could inspire visiting teams, he added: "The crowd is for us and we let them down today. We were not able to do what they deserved, which was to win."
Nuno outlined areas for improvement while expressing belief in the process: "We were still able to create a lot of situations that we should - and will, for sure in the future - finish better. "This season, it's clear that we're going to be protagonists and will have more of the ball. We [will work on] combinations in the final third and in one-on-ones, creating situations that can allow us to score. "We're going to repeat, repeat, repeat - but keep the belief in the process. We're going to get together and bounce back."
West Ham's next fixture is a Carabao Cup tie against Southampton on Tuesday, with league matches against Watford and Wolves to follow.
