Graham Potter paid tribute to Jarrod Bowen’s response to his midweek clash with fans after the West Ham captain inspired his side to a remarkable 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Bowen apologised for an angry confrontation with Hammers supporters following their Carabao Cup exit at Wolves, which was hot on the heels of back-to-back Premier League defeats by Sunderland and Chelsea.
The dismal start to the season has seen Potter’s position as West Ham head coach come under increasing scrutiny but they rallied at the City Ground, led by Bowen, who opened the scoring in the 84th minute.
Lucas Paqueta’s 88th-minute penalty and summer signing Callum Wilson’s first goal for the club in added-on time sent the travelling fans into raptures as West Ham moved off the foot of the table.
“Everybody was hurting after the week we’ve had,” Potter said. “The only way you can respond is to play well and win.
“That’s what Jarrod did – it was a great finish for his goal, he’s got that killer instinct in the box and he carries a threat when the game opens up.
“There’s no doubt Jarrod cares for the club, he cares for the team, he wants to do well personally and you just saw a fantastic reaction from him and the supporters and how much they love each other.”
As well as keeping a clean sheet having conceded 11 goals in their previous three outings, the Hammers looked more threatening as Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels was busier than opposite number Mads Hermansen.
The result alleviates the pressure on Potter, who said defiantly: “This world is about outcomes and results and our results have been damaging so in the end, there’s always noise and criticism.
“That’s why I’m sat here: because I can do the job. I’ve done it for 15 years and I believe in myself, I believe in the attributes and qualities I have and I can also deal with the downsides of the game.
“You need the team to be with you and I think the boys have always been fighting and they showed it here. This was a big win for us.”
Potter’s opposite number Nuno Espirito Santo has had a tumultuous past fortnight of his own after admitting to a strained relationship with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who was in attendance on Sunday.
The pair are set for crunch talks during the international break and asked whether their meeting will take on a different feel following Forest’s first defeat of the season, Nuno said: “It doesn’t help.
“Everybody at Forest is very sad and upset (about the loss) but there’s no connection between (the result and meeting Marinakis). We try to separate and move forward in the right direction.”
Forest followed up their 3-1 home opening-day win against Brentford with a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace last week but they were listless and lacked urgency against West Ham, with their forward line unusually out of sorts.
Nuno added: “My job now is more about the team because that was shocking. It’s a very bad day. I’m really upset, we are all upset, the players are upset, our fans are upset. We’re very upset.
“It was a very bad second half, a very bad performance. It’s very frustrating, especially after starting the season well. We had a good feeling about this game, we should have done better.
“This was unexpected, now it’s our job to try and figure out the reason behind it and make sure it doesn’t happen again because this was really bad.”
