Graham Potter hailed the “togetherness” shown from West Ham as he secured his first win as manager by beating Fulham 3-2.
Carlos Soler, Tomas Soucek and Lucas Pacqueta were on target as the Hammers punished two mistakes from the visitors to earn a positive, if unconvincing result, with Alex Iwobi netting twice for Fulham.
Potter’s first game since replacing Julen Lopetegui last week did not go to plan after exiting the FA Cup to Aston Villa but was delighted to get up and running at the London Stadium.
He said: “I’m very, very happy with the result. The performance was one of high effort and high togetherness. It was far from perfect in terms of how we want to be in the long-term, but as a starting point there was a foundation.
“They were gifts from our pressure. We forced the errors from our pressing and our aggression, trying to be on the front foot.
“If you don’t put pressure on them, there wouldn’t have been the errors. I thought we could have done better on their two goals too, but when you think of the players we are missing and the game we had on Friday night, I’m delighted with the three goals, the three points and the win.”
Silva laments Fulham mistakes
West Ham went ahead when Soler pounced on an Andreas Pereira mistake to break the deadlock against the run of play.
Soucek quickly doubled the hosts’ lead before Iwobi halved the deficit, only for a Bernd Leno error under pressure by Danny Ings to allow Pacqueta to re-establish their two-goal lead, with Iwobi’s second not enough to prevent a sloppy defeat.
Fulham boss Marco Silva said: “When you make mistakes like we did, it’s very difficult to win football matches. We were the most dominant team from the first minute and created the most chances.
“There was only one team that was on the pitch trying to win the game until we conceded that first goal that we gave them.
“We controlled the game and hit the crossbar. We showed the quality until then, but we have to keep the standards up throughout the game.
“We also had another one hit the crossbar from Raul Jimenez, and even with the mistakes we made in the first half, the result could have been completely different if we were clinical.
“In the second half, we knew we had to start strong and score early to come back and get a result. We did it and then we gave another goal away for them. We did everything much more than West Ham.
“We have been dominant like we are in all the games. But it didn’t reflect at all in the result but this is the reality of the Premier League.”
