Nuno Espirito Santo has praised West Ham supporters after many held a sit-in protest at the London Stadium following Sunday’s 3-1 win over Newcastle.
West Ham secured their first win under Nuno, and their first win at home in nine months, with a come-from-behind victory.
Goals from Lucas Paqueta and Tomas Soucek, either side of a Sven Botman own-goal, cancelled out Jacob Murphy’s 4th-minute opener to spark Nuno’s reign as West Ham boss into life, and the Portuguese coach said he could not thank the fans enough for the atmosphere they generated.
After the game, supporters voiced their frustrations at chairman David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady, who were both in attendance, in the latest protest against the board.
“Our idea is to try and give something to our fans, and today we did give them a small thing, and the way they gave us back was huge,” Nuno said. “In the end, the noise in the London Stadium was amazing, so we cannot thank them enough.
“So let's try to give them a little bit more so they can make more noise, and we try to transform the London Stadium into a very hard place for our opponents.”
West Ham produced a spirited performance against Newcastle to take them within three points of Burnley in 17th place ahead of the two sides’ meeting at the London Stadium next weekend.
Much of their good work came from midfield, with academy graduate Freddie Potts excelling on his first Premier League start, and Nuno acknowledged the 22-year-old’s importance to his side’s victory.
“I think it was really important. The midfielders today worked very hard off the ball. All of them,” Nuno continued.
“All of them was required against Newcastle. If you free up the middle of the park, Bruno, Joelinton, and Tonali, they can really hurt you, and Freddie did well. He did a very good game.”
