West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo conceded his side had let their supporters down following a surprise defeat by Charlton Athletic, despite the Hammers dominating possession throughout the contest.
Charlton took an early lead in the seventh minute when Lloyd Jones capitalised on a defensive lapse, heading home after West Ham failed to deal with a long throw-in that bounced dangerously inside their own penalty area. The visitors doubled their advantage after the interval through Tyreece Campbell, who pounced after Konstantinos Mavropanos was dispossessed in a dangerous area near his own box.
The result came despite West Ham enjoying more than 77% of the ball and racking up an expected goals tally of 2.96 compared to Charlton's 0.57, underlining the gulf in territorial dominance versus actual end product. Nuno, who previously managed Wolves and Nottingham Forest, was left to reflect on a night where his side's control of the match counted for little against a clinical opponent.
"We created a lot of situations but we weren't accurate enough in the boxes," Nuno said. "We have to defend much better. We had a lot of possession and tried to break them down, which is not easy."
The Portuguese head coach insisted his team would learn from the setback and pointed to the bigger picture of his project at the London Stadium. He stressed that despite the profligacy in front of goal, there were enough promising moments in the final third to suggest better days lie ahead if his players can sharpen their finishing.
"We were still able to create a lot of situations that we should - and will, for sure in the future - finish better," he added. "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."
Nuno also called for patience from those inside the club as he continues to implement his possession-based approach, one that demands repetition on the training ground before it translates into consistent results on matchdays.
"We're going to repeat, repeat, repeat - but keep the belief in the process," he said. "We're going to get together and bounce back."
The defensive errors that gifted Charlton both goals will be a particular concern for Nuno, given how comfortably his side controlled the run of play for large periods. Allowing a long throw to be converted so early, followed by a costly turnover near his own penalty area for the second goal, are the kind of individual mistakes that can undo an otherwise dominant offensive display.
West Ham do not have long to dwell on the result, with a Carabao Cup fixture against Southampton scheduled for Tuesday. That will be followed by two testing Premier League assignments against unbeaten sides Watford and Wolves, matches that will offer an early indication of whether Nuno's message about bouncing back can be translated into points on the board.
For now, the Hammers boss is banking on his squad's underlying performance data and the promise of continued repetition in training to eventually close the gap between chances created and goals scored, even as questions linger over defensive fragility against direct, physical opposition.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport Football.