LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -New West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo saw signs in their 1-1draw with Everton on Monday that his side can turn things around after a dreadful start to the Premier League season, but there is still plenty of work to do.
His predecessor Graham Potter was sacked on Saturday morning and the Portuguese coach was ushered in to quickly take over. He had little time to instil his usual defensively-sound counter-attacking style, but whatever he did manage to do paid dividends in the draw on Merseyside.
"Our message today was very clearly about competing as a team, being close to each other, and the boys did well. I think overall it is a good first, first game for us," the 51-year-old Portuguese coach said.
"This gameis going to be the tool, the main tool, for us to move forward. Now we're going to analyse it. It's all about knowing the players better, trying to take the right decisions in the right moment."
Much of that analysis will focus on strengthening West Ham's defence at set pieces as they once again conceded a goal following a corner, but Espirito Santo saw plenty he can work with as his side pulled a goal back in the second half to secure the draw.
"It's all about competing, every ball matters - the message was clear, and the boys are slowly, I think, understanding that football match is also about how we close (down the route to) our own goal, how many chances we concede," he explained.
The end goal will be to create the kind of well-drilled team that has previously been his signature in the Premier League during spells with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest.
"It's so difficult, it's so hard, it takes so much time (to build a team), and our approach is simple - day by day, the best of us, the best of us every day," he said.
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
