It wasn’t good enough and it needs to improve. That was the verdict of David Moyes on West Ham United’s performance after his first game at the helm ended in a 2-0 defeat at Watford.

Goals from Will Hughes and Richarlison fired the Hornets to victory and the new Hammers boss admitted the “better team won”, although a combination of exceptional goalkeeping and bad finishing was to see Cheikou Kouyate, twice, and Marko Arnautovic unable to take chances either side of half-time when the score was 1-0.

“We had three big opportunities, but I thought the better team won,” Moyes said. “They had two big saves first half but we need something to go for us to bring things together at the club.

“We gave the ball away too cheaply, too many times and I expected us to do better. We wanted to stay in the game, so we could give ourselves a chance, and we probably did even at 2-0 but overall I just didn’t think it was good enough. It’ll need to be much better.”

Reflecting further on the manner of the defeat, the West Ham boss continued: “I thought we gave the ball away really cheaply. I thought we defended ok, but then we gave away cheap goals. We get bumped off the ball three times for the first goal, and the second one [Pablo] Zabaleta went in for a cross and before we know it they’re inside us.

“We didn’t do well enough in all the departments. We created one or two chances, but I didn’t think Watford created too many clear-cut chances but theirs were better than ours.”

The defeat was the Hammers’ fifth successive Premier League game in succession without a win and their vocal travelling support were to increasingly vent their anger at the Hammers’ board as the minutes elapsed.

Asked about the supporters’ chants, Moyes said: “I don’t know the history or the reasons behind it, and I’m thankful - they were supportive of me. We need them now. We need a united club, I know that’s hard to say when you have grievances, those supporters will know much better than me about the past but I said to the players at the end that it’s tough to play when the crowd’s like that. Something like a goal can make a big difference, but I didn’t think we played well enough in the second half.”

Andy Carroll was also subjected to chants from the Hammers fans and while Moyes defended his striker, he admitted he was concerned the former Newcastle United man might get sent off after being booked in the first half.

“I didn’t know there was any heat between Andy Carroll and the fans before,” Moyes admitted. “I was surprised, because Andy’s done everything in training, tried to do everything right.

“Every time he went for a challenge the opposition fans were going for it, and at half-time I had a decision to make as to whether he was going to get himself sent off. I said I’d be taking him off but that I was going to give him 10 or 15 minutes.

“We have to try to find a way of making sure we get things together. I’m probably the wrong man to ask how to fix that at the moment, I’m just here trying to get wins for the team.

“I thought it was a big job. There were some players with big reputations who I thought would show me more but disappointed me a little bit. But today was the first time I’d really had a chance to see them play.