Already being dubbed the ‘Ward-Prowse upgrade‘, it seems there is no stopping the outpouring of hyper-upbeat articles from football journoland after West Ham contrived to secure their fourth point of the Premier League campaign.
It does all seem rather premature to be hyping players, particularly in Freddie Potts‘ case, after less than half an hour on the pitch for his new manager.
This time it is givemesport.com suggesting Potts is the “player around whom Nuno must build West Ham side”. Welcome sentiment for thousands of talent -starved West Ham fans, but slightly ignoring the midfield permutations offered to West Ham by colleagues Magassa and Fernandes.
Serenaded as ‘one of our own’ by travelling fans
“The talented defensive-minded midfielder was serenaded by the travelling supporters “ continues the article, “as they sung ‘he’s one of our own’. That will have been a highlight in his burgeoning career and, if his substitute performance is anything to go by, more game time will be coming his way.”
All of which is true.
The sense of relief from Hammers fans who have been haranguing Potter since the summer series in the USA to play his youngsters is immense: Freddie Potts didn’t disappoint.
Which might suggest fellow academy graduates Callum Marshall and George Earthy will perform with similar aplomb when Nuno Espírito Santo gives them the ‘nod’ which Graham Potter resolutely refused to do.
But let’s not forget to keep both feet on the ground: Arsenal away has been responsible for bursting bubbles of false-dawn optimism before: Whilst West Ham go there full of new manager bounce, lets wait until 5 pm on Saturday before getting too carried away.
I worry that Potts is only involved because of who his father is. I realise though that we all thought that about Frank Lampard junior and he went on to be quite a good player if I remember rightly. Think it’s too early to judge the lad. I’m hopeful he will develop the way Declan Rice did but that might take a few years.
I’m not one to go overboard early, but it was interesting to read that Potts was praised on some Everton websites for”changing the game” when he came on and really looking the part
JFW! Looked like another bang average medium-paced ‘model’ pro to me a la Cullen & co. Passed sideways & backwards while looking a little bit like a rabbit caught in headlights. Stupid world we live in, I wish him all the best & hope he proves me wrong but him & Guilherme offered sfa when replacing Magassa & Summerville respectively & I’ll be surprised if we see too much more of either in the near future.
Think you’re mistaken on this Martin, Arsenal away was to be a free hit for Potter.
So, it only seems fair to look at it like that for Nuno, Potts, Marshall, Earthy, Scarles or any of our less experienced players.
However there ought to be an expectation on the senior players, including the senior citizens up front and the centre backs to justify their selections.