As Graham Potter found out to his cost, the old proverb ‘to err is human’ is only too true. I’m not sure if the fan base is about to ‘forgive’ him (to finish the same proverb) for the first half set-up against Brentford, but his own words quoted back to him might make for an interesting answer just now.
When Potter was interviewed during the extended break last week, the Hammers’ manager spoke in detail about reacting to exactly the same kind of scenario as the flawed selection and team set-up which produced such a dreadful spectacle and timid first half.
“People say stop making mistakes,” Potter said on West Ham’s Iron Cast. pod cast :
“Well you might as well not play football anymore.
“You are going to make mistakes, it’s how you react to them.”
Exactly so. Potter is educated and intelligent in conversation and interview. Part of the reason that patience wore thin with Lopetegui so fast is that the Spaniard repeated errors week in, week out, failing to learn the limitations and strengths of his players so after six months he acted as if he still had no idea who is strongest eleven were.
That will be the ‘proof of the Potter pudding’: How Potter reacts to his own mistakes, and goes on to admit he was wrong, change the selection and tactical cock-up that screwed the Hammers last week and head back in an upwards trajectory once more: Fine words are one thing but as well all know ‘action speaks louder than words’ – time to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
To keep making the same mistakes week after week is a sure sign of something being very amiss: West Ham fans have suffered that once already this season with Julen Lopetegui’s brief rise and fall -and once is most definitely enough.
I like Potter as a person and hopefully as a manager, I think he will need time. But One thing has always worried me though and that is the constant tinkering with formation and personnel, which is why a lot of Brighton and Chelsea fans grew to dislike him.
Scarles playing so well on his debut should have meant that was his position and it was up to Emerson to up his game and earn his place. He didn’t but Scarles was just hooked out the starting team. Potter has a number of free hits as there are the 3 teams at the bottom showing no real signs of starting to win. But I can not understand how we play pretty well against Villa and Chelsea, have a two week break and get players back and produce that dire performance. We didn’t get the results in the 2 good games but for me at the moment it is the consistency of performance that is important. Obviously all teams have a bad game now and then but we have had 5 league games under potter and we have 1 win 1 draw and 3 losses, 2 decent performances and 3 pretty dire performances. Consistency in performance is needed.
This season is a write-off. Survive and clean house.
Brentford played youth, yet has no academy. We have an academy, yet no young graduates started. If we aren’t going to develop them, why have an academy?
Not convinced about the second half, better than a disastrous first half yes, but not great. Firm action needed; drop Mav and Emerson, play Todibo and Scarles. Drop Alvarez and Soucek, play Irving and W-P or even Orford. Drop Kudus, play Guillerme. Play Paqueta, Bowen and Ferguson. Use dropped players as subs plus Orford if not picked. Be prepared to blood Casey soon. Cannot be worse than losing four out of six, and look to the future. Summerville will be back eventually.
Spot on. Purge and move on.
Last time i looked we scored no goals in the second half against Brentford and we lost. Yes it was an improvement on the first half but frankly it really could not have been worse. Potter has had half a dozen games over a good few weeks now and there has been very little improvement. Statistically, there has been none. We are lower in the league and have secured fewer points per game. I don’t think Potter is a bad coach, but neither do I think he is as good as others are suggesting. Yes he’s brought Scarles in and he is a massive plus. He can run for a start. Time for more brave decisions like hooking Kudus, Soler and Mav and bringing in more youth like Casey and the young Brazilian. If they aren’t going to be here next year, stop playing them every week and lets plan for the future now Potter. With Soton, Ipswich and Leicester we are fortunate enough to have a free pass. Use it.
I was not sure about potter to start with ,hope I’m wrong I really do , perhaps we should have hired a certain Mr Moyes at least he’s winning, sometimes I think the club goes round in circles.
I like Graham Potter, his whole attitude and approach, but this is a decent squad with some good youngsters. A decent manager should be able to forge a team that is consistently competitive even in this tough league. We have World class attacking players + a young no9 + Luis Guilherme, so we should be a danger in the oppositioin box. If we are not then something is wrong. We have a world class midfielder in Paqueta (playing his heart out), we have sulky Kudus, Irving, JWP, Soucek international captain, Alvarez same,… This is not criticism of GP, he needs a fair whack and a chance to select the right players in the right positions, but this team should aim to be consistently competitive if not already, no excuses.
In the same vein as the article need to act now. Kudus, who can be brilliant, does not want to be on the pitch. Fix it or hook him and give the coaches a rocket for not getting him to play effectively. Paqueta who could be banned is playing his heart out, others on the sidelines are dying to play.
There are enough top players and youth players, for this team to be consistently competitive at some stage this season and that is a valid aim.You might need to be a bit ruthless to do so and ruffle some feathers on the way – fine, about time.
Potter cannot “walk the walk” from the sideline, the players do that.
I cannot believe Potter won’t be talking with and listening to his coaches and players, it’ll be a collective effort.
To Potter et al’s credit, they did make changes at half time, and looked much better for it.
But it’s no good if he gets the formation and tactics completely wrong. 2 uninterrupted weeks to prepare the team and get his tactics right. Then they line up with our best attacking player at wing back, Mavrapanos picked, and concede after 4 minutes! For a coach with his experience that should never happen.