Graham Potter was on the offensive as soon as he stepped through the door. ‘Must have been a bad result at the weekend,’ he remarked as he turned to face a rare packed media room at Rush Green.
He could say that again.
A 3-0 defeat to Sunderland to start the season on which Potter was always to be judged, the one after the summer where he hoped to get all the players he needed to overhaul the ageing, underperforming squad he inherited and stamp his style and authority upon it. Then they went to the Stadium of Light and got trounced by a newly-promoted team with only two new signings in his starting line-up.
Potter argued, not incorrectly, that West Ham had done well in the first half to quieten a raucous home crowd and control the game even if not enough to take the lead. He said it was a ‘header from heaven’ that had put them behind. But the problem was that West Ham, as they so often did last season, then collapsed and capitulated.
Now they welcome his former club Chelsea on Friday night ahead to start a league run that then reads: Forest away, Tottenham at home, Palace at home, Everton away and Arsenal away. West Ham haven’t won a home league game since February, one of just two in his tenure so far.
Those who spent time around the team during the summer, their travels around the USA for the Summer Series, and back at Rush Green for pre-season have spoken about how united the group was, even on the back such a dismal Premier League campaign. They hadn’t seen it like this in a long time. Potter’s presentation to his squad ahead of the season was described as inspiring.
All this was a lot different to before Potter’s arrival as his predecessor Julen Lopetegui clashing at various points with defender Jean-Clair Todibo, goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and now Tottenham winger Mohammed Kudus.
And yet West Ham’s problems against Sunderland were the same problems that plagued them last season, the same problems the club knew they had to fix during the summer, and know will continue to be their undoing if they don’t get it done in the next couple of weeks: midfielders who can run, pass, dribble, control and dominate games. Potter started at the Stadium of Light with James Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez in the centre of the park.
After the thumping defeat, fake rumours spread online of a dressing-room bust-up including Potter, ones that were untrue, unsubstantiated and quickly shot down by multiple club insiders.
It was a frustrated one post-match, of course, led by a ‘fuming’ captain Jarrod Bowen, but sources close to the dressing room insisted to Daily Mail Sport that the atmosphere around the squad was still ‘very positive’. The message was that the feeling among them is that there is ‘still a long way to go’.
That much is true, and vice-chair Karren Brady was keen to stress to talkSPORT the day after the Sunderland defeat that West Ham is ‘not a club that panics about its managers’.
Even so, it was still a prickly Potter that even bristled at straightforward questions about whether, during difficult moments such as this, he reflects on his experience and achievements in the game to help him through.
‘I have no doubt whatsoever about my ability, no doubt whatsoever,’ he snapped back.
‘And I have no doubt about the players and I have no doubt about the team that we’ll improve, no doubt. I understand people will be critical, I understand people will be negative, I understand that’s the world we’re in. That’s why you guys are all here, because this time last week there was about three people here. That’s the world we’re in. No point complaining about it. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion, everybody’s entitled to put pressure on. I couldn’t care less what you guys think or what people say from outside. I come in here, work with the guys, do my very best for the club, fight every day to improve and that’s what I’ll continue to do.’
The issue is Potter’s side lacks leaders for when things go badly and, in his previous own words, carries plenty of ‘baggage’. This was a team that between March and April dropped eight points in six games from goals conceded after the 88th minute, during which run Fullkrug called out the club’s ‘mindset problem’.
Potter felt the need to appoint sports psychologist James Bell in the summer to work with his players and the side’s leadership team that includes captain Bowen, Tomas Soucek, James Ward-Prowse, Max Kilman, Nayef Aguerd and Fullkrug.
In the summer, they lost leaders like Lukas Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell, key members of the dressing room. Bowen leads by example on the pitch but is not the type to throw any teacups.
It was not just the media in Potter’s crosshairs, though. Potter had earlier defended the club’s lack of action in the transfer window, arguing there is no ‘silver bullet’ to fix all their problems but when pushed on the multiple areas his team needed to improve – in central defence, in midfield and in attack – he remarked that maybe they needed ‘a few silver bullets’ instead and, in one swift breath, proceeded to dismantle West Ham’s entire recent recruitment policy.
‘If I look historically, West Ham have spent money, have signed players,’ Potter went on. ‘Signing players is easy, believe you me. You could do it. It’s easy. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to be the right ones. It doesn’t mean to say that the team’s going to improve. It doesn’t mean to say that in six months’ time you’re stuck with a player that’s on too much money, that’s too old and you can’t sell them.’
He knows how that feels, all right. Potter has found that out to his cost this summer with the club unable to shift many of his unwanted assets.
For a club that received £105million for Declan Rice two years ago and have spent more than £300m since, they still have not been able to replace his quality or his leadership.
The £19m signing of wing-back El Hadji Malick Diouf this summer has been a promising one. The club granted Potter and his recruitment team their wish to sign goalkeeper Mads Hermansen from Leicester instead of Brazilian John Victor, ahead of a disappointing debut was littered with errors. Callum Wilson’s arrival as a free agent was not, however, on Potter’s bingo card.
West Ham are trying to get deals done before the window closes but, so far, with little success. Potter wants a sitting midfielder and a creative one. Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes remains their top target list and two bids have gone in but the two clubs’ valuations remain miles apart. Saints want £50m and the Hammers are currently not much above £30m.
The club have also made an offer for Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado as well as Chelsea’s Andrey Santos, though their bid for the latter was said to be miles short of their asking price. Feyernoord’s Quinten Timber, brother of Arsenal defender Jurrien, is also on their watchlist.
Edson Alvarez is joining Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce on loan, which should help West Ham now that his £115,000-a-week wages are off the books.
‘It would be easy for me to sit here and say it would be nice to have £200 million to spend but that’s not the case,’ he added.
‘So, I have to work with what I have responsibly and with the club together to make sure we’re aligned, to make sure that we end the window stronger than when we started it.’
He certainly can’t say that yet.
