Manuel Pellegrini said Saturday’s 3-1 win over Manchester United was a reward for the patience shown by West Ham United supporters.
The Claret and Blue Army were understandably disappointed when the Hammers lost their opening four Premier League matches, but seven points from nine and an 8-0 Carabao Cup thrashing of Macclesfield Town has changed the mood in the stands.
And Pellegrini shared in their delight, saying: “One of the reasons I was delighted with the way we played was because it was for the West Ham fans.
“I understand that they started the first four games with just defeats but we bought some players, maybe not players they knew, but I always felt the fans were behind us, so this is a win for them.”
We continued playing in the same way and improving because without believing in your performance it’s very hard to be a good team
Manuel Pellegrini
Pellegrini has consistently preached a message that West Ham’s performances and results would improve as his new-look squad continued to gel and take on board his positive ‘big team’ mentality.
That improvement has already resulted in wins over Everton and Manchester United and a draw with Chelsea, with Saturday’s victory being the most complete performance of the three.
Watch highlights of Saturday's win over Manchester United
“It was a very good day. Three weeks ago, things were not so good, but we continued to believe in what we were doing and the team made a massive performance, played very well and we worked very well.
“The talk during the week was to continue doing what we started doing and we believed the results would come. This week we got the results but we need to continue working hard if we want to improve a lot and to have a successful season.
“What I was sure about was that the owners knew what I was doing and I had no doubt it was the correct way and the players didn’t have any doubt also and that’s so important.
“We continued playing in the same way and improving because without believing in your performance it’s very hard to be a good team.”
While the Hammers are upwardly mobile, scoring finely-crafted goals and blooding promising youngsters, Pellegrini is experienced enough to know his team has achieved nothing yet.
With a difficult-looking trip to Brighton & Hove Albion next on the fixture list, the manager is demanding the same level of performance at the Amex on Friday evening.
“It was a wonderful finish from Felipe Anderson and we scored three goals from three clear chances.
“It was also a good day for Grady Diangana because he made his Premier League debut because he deserved it for the work he did on Wednesday.
“There were a lot of positive things about this game but next week we start from zero and we must understand that every game is different and we need to keep working hard.”