West Ham seem to have become a team who can’t defend and won’t attack—and make no mistake about it, we’re getting worse.
Under Julen Lopetegui the Hammers were a mess at the back, but at least we could attack. One game against Bournemouth even broke a Premier League record for chances created.
Ultimately, Lopetegui was a poor appointment and had to be replaced. While Graham Potter didn’t excite, he did at least fix the defensive issues.
But this version of West Ham is even worse than last season. Yes, the manager needs more players and the board are culpable for hiring substandard coaches and failing in the transfer window. But make no mistake: a couple of new midfielders will only help so much when the defence is abysmal.
To make matters worse, the players Potter does have appear to be regressing. Jarrod Bowen is a shadow of his former self, and even Mr Consistent, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, now looks a liability.
West Ham are a club on the decline, and everyone—except David Sullivan and Karren Brady—seems aware of it. There is no leadership from either Potter or his squad. Niclas Fullkrug appears to be the only player with any grit or leadership whilst the manager continues to broadcast his gentle, quiet and touchy feely leadership style. In short, the Hammers are desperate for real authority and direction.
Unless there’s a miracle, Graham Potter can’t and won’t last as West Ham manager. His pre-match press conferences are full of riddles, spoken by a man with a persecution complex. He’ll need to be replaced quickly.
The real tragedy? The appointments of Potter and Lopetegui have already set the club back—and the same people who made those calls will be choosing the next boss too.
Gonzo, can’t defend and don’t want to attack! But who does both. Midfield!! Last night didn’t think we had a midfielder who could say he had done something in the game apart from the goal scorer. Midfield was non existent in that attack and go to cross the ball and it’s our 2 forwards against 4 or 5 defenders. Defender and the ball gets past acrossed our defence time and time again with no pressure on the ball, then the killer pass is much easier to find. Sulivan needs to go NOW!
Lack of on-field leadership is also a major problem. Jarrod’s a top player but definitely not a captain. Was interesting to see the team in a huddle before the start and it was actually Fulkrug doing the talking while Jarrod said nothing. In midfield Soucek who captains his country is also far too placid. And absolutely no leadership at all in our defence with three center backs who seem more intent on not heading the ball. Togetherness is great but a leadership vacuum that holds no one accountable leads to the lack of grit and character on display.
Sullivan will only get the message when they are playing in a empty stadium
Sullivan is throwing Potter under the bus he should have had new signings long ago to intigrate them but Sullivan with his penny pinching hanging on untill the last minute so potter is still playing with the team from last year now the players that they want the clubs are going to ask top dollar because they know West Ham are in trouble so it will back fire on scrouge Sullivan who like Brown the former owner are taking the fans for fools milking the club
100% agree with the persons views in this article.the people running the club seem to think big stadium big crowds equals we are massive.the northern giants have a little chuckle on the way home after they have given us a good hiding. the west ham fans sing we are massive every where we go not because of the dross on the pitch or because of the london stadium.we are massive because they turn up in their thousands inspite of that.you would never see bonds,brooking,frank lampard snr.geoff hurst.,pop robson ,devo.huddling in a little group before the match started to hype themselves up.west ham supporters are famous for sticking with it.hence just like my dreams they fade and die,its its indifference and boredom that are the vultures circling above.but lets face it there isnt mutch flesh on the bones to chomp on.in 63 rs of following the hammers there has been joy.pain.laughter.tears. but beware the shadow of indifference and boredom.we west ham fans adore our club yes i did say adore.we are trapped in a one sided love affair and no chance of escape we are all lifers.we wouldnt contemplate being unfaithful.its a good job we have youtube so we can be alone look at the greats shed a tear and let out a sigh for what once was.but rember hammers fans who we are.we have many people who have come and gone with a great love for this club.the greats ron greenwood and john lyall.late chairman reg pratt west ham in their bones it is they who made west ham. be strong this strange dream will end all will be well.it will wont it?
3 Managers have failed.
The board is at fault.
60,000+ at every home game. Where is all that cash going? Not in the squad for sure.
Unless Sully etc. don`t wake up then there is a bleak outcome ahead.
Agree with so many of the comments.
Since the last season of Moyes was in charge the club have been on the decline and the writing has been on the wall! The team have badly needed investment in young decent players who are ready to play in the premiership, instead the recruitment has not been great and the team has got older, as we have bought players at the back end of there career. We now have too many people past there prime on big wages who understandably don’t want to move knowing this is possibly there last big payday. Everyone can see that buying and keeping these players also devalues the club as they have no sell on value. The owners have a lot to answer for and should dig deep to help get the club out of this mess they have created!
Over the last few seasons losses like this have happened far too often, this season what have we done to fix it, shrunk the squad by letting players go and bought a keeper who just isn’t up to the job judged on the last two games and considering he let in 80 goals last season, not exactly the world class keeper we would have wanted! An older striker pass his best with injury issues and a left back with promise but not seen the preseason reproduced in the last couple of games.
As for Potter I feel sorry for him as he has not been given the toools to play the style of football he has been asked to produce. At the same time some of his squad selections have been questionable and the team clearly don’t understand what they are being asked to do, looking unorganised and clueless at times!
Let’s hope the board can improve there negotiating skills and get some decent proven players to improve the squad before the window shuts. Problem they will have now is teams know we are desperate so that task isn’t going to be easy!
Let’s go through all the players
Mads – WTF
AWB – positionally atrocious, always in the wrong place on crosses from the left
Todibo – simply can’t head the ball, doesn’t win any duels, thinks he’s better than he is. Slow !! Looks like he just doesn’t give a S££t
Aguerd – simply can’t defend balls over his head, all managers learned this 2 seasons ago
Killman – has all the attributes, but zero leadership or organisational properties.
Diouf – looks like he also has difficulty positionally and isn’t a defender of any note.
JWP – Slow runner, slow passer, passes are unadventurous, adds nothing to the tram in defence or attack, a passenger on the pitch.
Soucek – No real pace, puts a real shift in, short range passing is poor, long range good, adds a goal threat.
Paqueta – No real pace, can’t tackle, no ability to shrug players off, loses possession cheaply, careless passing giving the ball away, erratic at best.
Bowen – Is Bowen, not a captain, but our only real top level player
Fulkrug – lacks pace, looks like he actually cares, puts a shift in.
Relegation beckons
Spot on analysis Bob…unfortunately!
Gonzo hate to say it Bowen a brilliant player for us but should not be our captain We have no grit throughout the team Our back 3 centre backs are poor Dont read the game head the ball or tackle The manager just not improving things no midfield and in my opion weve let leave two of our best players in Kudus and Alverez Feel sorry the new keeper hes now shell shocked and wan bissaka looking bad because hes having to cover for other people not doing there jobs Need a manager to come in like Mounrino to give the players hell Look at his record brilliant Hes got at his turkish club what we should have here Alverez and DURAN If we dont change our spineless ways we are relegated that for sure
I said it after the Sunderland game and I’ll say it again…Sullivan is purposefully undermining Potter. He wasn’t his choice. He’s reluctant to spend cash because he either doesn’t trust Potter to get the best out of it or he wants to sack him as soon as possible.
This season is going to be defined by who the next manager is and what happens in the January window.
Potter is simply a dead man walking and the club won’t even pay for his last meal.
Having watched last nights drubbing, it was clear to see that no matter who plays in midfield, they will get overrun simply because there is too much space between them and the 3 central defenders.
Bowen is not suited to his current role and will only be more effective when we change the style of play so that he can be in his more preferred role out on the wing.
I will be very very surprised if we are not bottom by xmas and Potter is still the manager.
I keep reading that Potter has the worst record as Hammers manager in the PL –
His record is terrible but it is not the worst in PL games
He has 5 wins out of 21 = 23.8% win percentage and 20 points in 21 games (0.95 points per game)
Avram Grant had 7 wins out of 37 = 18.9% win percentage and 33 points in 37 games (0.89 points per game)
So sacking Potter now would ensure that he cant be as bad as Avram
(And I think that Kevin Keen’s record is played 3 lost 3 but it might be played 2 lost 2)
I agree with what you are saying Gonzo – despite Brady saying “We back our managers” the current board have previous – when threatened by relegation they sack the manager (Bilic, Pellegrini and Lopetegui) – but can we expect a decent appointment this time?
How did we get to a stage where none of our centre halves seem to be able to head the ball?
Looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is the oncoming train
COYI
A new mmaannaber won’t change anything. We will still have a very poor squad and the 🤡
So many thoughts and questions after yesterday’s game. Having played 1 more game than the rest, last place isn’t a good feeling.
Here are some unstructured thoughts:
1. I feel really bad for our new GK. What a horrible start to his West Ham career.
2. Have our players really understood how Potter wants to play in with 3 CD and wingbacks? Their positioning seems way off and they look uncoordinated on who covers what ground/players. Fullkrug looks a bit better with Bowen supporting him centrally, but Bowen loses all his magic there.
3. Wilson actually looked ok yesterday after coming on. I do wonder what happened in the dressing room leading to Fullkrug substitution!
4. Diouf I think had a good game. He works really hard and seem the most comfortable in the 3+wingback formation.
5. Our players SHOULD be good enough to avoid a relegation scrap, however, however when Fullkrug screams to defend higher, Paqueta and Bowen follows and our defence stays low – we leave half the pitch for our 2 slow central midfielders to cover. They stand absolutely no chance in this repeated scenario and we are setting them up to fail! We need to defen as a unit, without leaving so damn much space for the opposition to play through.