Nuno Espirito Santo walked off the Gtech Community pitch on Saturday afternoon with the unpleasant feeling that West Ham United wasted an opportunity.

The head coach was as measured as usual during his post-match presser in the bowels of the Brentford stadium.

Still, while Nuno Espirito Santo retains belief in the togetherness and the spirit of his West Ham United side, he knows that a lack of quality at both ends of the field has gifted relegation rivals Tottenham Hotspur the chance to leapfrog them into 17th spot.

On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you about staying up now? 👀

Taty Castellanos did everything but score. The Argentine hit the post twice, saw one fizzing effort tipped over by Caoimhin Kelleher, and also squandered a glorious headed chance just before half-time at 1-0 down.

Pablo Felipe was nothing short of dreadful. Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville had off-days too.

This, coupled with some uncharacteristically slack defending, meant the scoreline arguably did not reflect what Nuno felt was a performance with some real positives.

“I stand here honest and try to speak about what I saw. What I felt was [we had] a very good first-half. Nuno told BBC Sport, albeit frustrated with the build-up to Brentford’s 15th minute opener.

“We conceded from a crossing situation, something we knew was going to happen. Brentford are a very good side at doing these things.

“But the way we reacted in the first-half, the chances that we had – the post, the bar, the [Konstantinos Mavropanos] goal disallowed for fine margins – gives us hope to say, ‘OK, let’s keep doing the same things.’

“We need to keep the same organisation and energy because things can change [in a game like this]. That was the feeling among us.”

Nuno highlights the penalty given away by El Hadji Malick Diouf just after the interval as a turning point in proceedings. The Hammers continued to probe thereafter – Summerville rattled the bar while Tomas Soucek was denied what appeared a clear spot-kick – but this did not feel like an ‘all is lost’, ‘throw in the towel’ sort of performance away at a side with genuine European aspirations.

“[After Igor Thiago scored] the penalty in the second-half, we lost a bit of composure and organisation, and it became much harder,” Nuno added.

“What I said to the boys; ‘Let’s keep together, let’s realise how we react from a bad day like today is going to keep us alive in the fight’.”

What did YOU make of the refereeing controversy at Brentford?

No pen on Soucek? Really?

Jarrod Bowen shares Nuno stance after Brentford loss

“It’s really frustrating,” agreed captain Jarrod Bowen. “I think all of their goals came from mistakes by us, and they could have been avoided. But we had chances in the game, hit the woodwork four times and had a goal disallowed. It felt like things just weren’t falling for us at times.

“The start of the game wasn’t great from us. They had a chance quickly from kick-off, and then scored, which was disappointing. But the reaction was good. We hit the post and went so close to going level through Dinos.

“We felt we were in a good place going into half-time, and that we could get something out of the game.

“Even at 2-0, after the penalty, we knew that we’d been in those sorts of situations before and maybe opened up. It didn’t go our way, but I don’t think anyone ever gave up – I think you can see that from the chances we created.

“We had good moments in a game that on another day could’ve gone a different way. It’s fine margins, and they’re a good side who have gone sixth today. Ultimately, we haven’t done enough, and now we have to bounce back.”