Nuno Espirito Santo has left some West Ham fans concerned after making a striking claim about his team’s performance in the crucial victory over Championship leaders Swansea.

It has certainly been a peculiar opening 11 games to West Ham’s first Championship season in 14 years. A glance at the table and goal difference might suggest the Hammers are finding life in the second tier relatively comfortable, as many expected following relegation.

The reality, however, is that West Ham have rarely been convincing for a full 90 minutes and have been guilty of many woeful first-half performances.

Individual quality has often got them through, with Jarrod Bowen and Konstantinos Mavropanos among those making decisive contributions. Given the scale of the summer overhaul, Nuno Espirito Santo deserves immense credit for guiding a team that is still gelling into second place.

Nuno’s glowing verdict raises eyebrows

The 1-0 victory at Swansea was another significant statement, taking West Ham to within a point of the Championship leaders and denying the Swans the chance to open up a seven-point gap.

Yet while Swansea supporters were unimpressed by the Hammers’ performance, some West Ham fans were left asking questions of their own after hearing Nuno’s post-match assessment.

There are two ways of looking at West Ham’s performance in Wales. The old saying is that the mark of champions is winning when you are not playing well, and the Hammers certainly managed that.

But Nuno’s comments afterwards suggested he believed his side had produced something considerably more impressive than a hard-fought victory built on defensive resilience.

Wearing a broad smile, the Portuguese used the word “very” four times to emphasise his satisfaction with the performance.

“Today was very good, a very, very good performance,” Nuno told West Ham TV.

“Always things to look at but overall a very good performance. Organised, intense, recovered the ball well defensively, good job offensively (although) I think we can improve, we had a lot of chances to kill the game but very, very important for us.”

The glowing assessment has left some Hammers supporters baffled, with social media filled with questions about how the manager could consider the display so impressive.

West Ham struggled to establish sustained attacking pressure and failed to make the most of several opportunities to put the game beyond Swansea. Pablo missed a glorious chance, while substitutes Taty Castellanos and Joel Piroe also failed to make their opportunities count.

Swansea, meanwhile, hit the underside of the crossbar from close range and spurned a golden late chance, meaning West Ham had a significant slice of luck alongside their defensive organisation.

The reaction perhaps reinforces the argument that Nuno is a defence-first manager.

Former Hammers midfielder Joe Cole recently described him as a “what if” manager, questioning whether his cautious approach is suited to a club of West Ham’s stature.

There is certainly room for improvement in possession and in the final third, and supporters are entitled to expect more from a team with the attacking talent available to Nuno.

But there is another side to the argument.

West Ham have now recorded back-to-back clean sheets, addressing an area of concern during the opening weeks of the campaign. The defensive structure at Swansea was impressive, with Mavropanos and Max Kilman particularly influential as the visitors protected their lead.

Nuno is also working with a substantially overhauled squad that has yet to reach its full potential. Getting results while establishing a new team is no small achievement, and the Hammers are firmly in the promotion picture as the season approaches its first quarter.

There is every reason to believe West Ham can improve further going forward. When their attacking play clicks, they have the individual quality to cause serious problems for Championship opponents.

Some fans may have wanted Nuno to acknowledge more readily how unconvincing the performance looked in spells. His satisfaction, though, appears rooted in the organisation, intensity and clean sheet that secured another valuable three points.

Ultimately, the Portuguese does not need to justify every positive assessment to supporters while his team continues to win.

West Ham may have several gears left to go through, but results matter most in a promotion campaign. If Nuno can maintain the defensive foundation while improving his side’s attacking fluency, his confidence in Wales may yet prove justified.