Nuno wants to understand Paqueta frustration after baffling red in West Ham defeat to Liverpool

Nuno Espirito Santo says he will speak to Lucas Paqueta to try and understand his frustration, following his baffling red card in West Ham's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.

The Hammers were already trailing to Alexander Isak's opener on the hour when Paqueta was shown two yellow cards in the space of 54 seconds, both for dissent.

Cody Gakpo went on to make sure of the win for Liverpool in second-half stoppage time, with West Ham counting the cost of a suspension for Paqueta, who had only just returned from a ban.

It represented Paqueta's first red card in his 104th Premier League appearance, and his first in a big-five European league game since February 2021 for Lyon against Marseille in Ligue 1.

"I'm not going to comment too much," Nuno told Sky Sports. "First of all, I'm going to speak to Lucas and try to understand his frustrations and his behaviour.

"We need all the players, and we are going to need them until the end of the season. Every player out, we're going to miss them."

West Ham headed into the match having taken seven points from their previous three games, but failed to register a single shot on target at the London Stadium.

Defeat means the Hammers have just 11 points in 13 Premier League games this season (W3 D2 L8) – only in 2010-11 (nine) and 2017-18 (10) have they had fewer at this stage of a campaign in the competition.

"It's a disappointing day," Nuno added. "We felt we were in the game, we were controlling the game. A lack of concentration cost us. We fought against a good team. The final pass, the final cross wasn't there."

However, Nuno scoffed at any suggestion defeat against the defending champions represented a step backwards for his side.

"No way, no way [is this a step backwards]," he continued. "We didn't perform as well as we should have. We'll bounce back."