I wonder when ‘that’ team set-up seemed a good idea. The Arsenal game – perfect. A rearguard action fought with often eight or nine behind the ball. Good solid defending, a cheeky three points stolen from the title pretenders. Against lowly Leicester City: Not so. The warning signs were there. West Ham huffed and puffed, with seven or eight behind the ball, little creativity or goal threat. Nobody pulling the strings in midfield.
And so when the ‘unchanged’ announcement came 75 minutes before kick off last night, I don’t think anyone was enthused – but Hammers fans were prepared to put their trust in Potter.
Trying to look forwards and not backwards (Graham Potter has still only been at the club a little over two months) it is easy as a supporter to be pre-loaded with an almost full ‘underwhelm’ bucket with what came before: Lopetegui’s six months before Potter even started were pretty dire.
There is a lot to sort out and Potter can only work with the team he was given.
And clearly there is a dreadful skill shortage in midfield. So much so that at the slightest sign of aggression, the Hammers midfield three just drop back and form a line of eight along the 18 yard line to try and repel opponents: From that respect, Newcastle’s goal was a self inflicted wound.
Is it fear, is it coaching, or is it a squad deficiency? West Ham need to find a midfield trio that can better hold off the opposition because last night apart from the late-on advancement of Ward-Prowse into a more attacking midfield role, West Ham offered zero.
Which was fine against Arsenal. Not good against Leicester. And thoroughly boring, dull, ineffective ‘Moyesball’ at its worse last night. Without Areola’s reaction saves that would have been another Lopetegui-like pasting.
Jacob Steinberg in the guardian.com sums it up, describing Potter’s enforced methodology thus:
” A necessary departure from the disorder of Julen Lopetegui’s reign, a way to protect a team woefully short of speed, but it has come at the expense of attacking ingenuity. With a midfield of Edson Álvarez, Ward-Prowse and Soucek providing zero dynamism or invention, Kudus and Bowen are doing a lot of heavy lifting.
And I’m thankful I didn’t brave the elements, the railway, the queues and the walking traffic lights afterward to go in person to be ‘entertained’ that poorly in a game when the sole highlight was applauding Michail Antonio’s recovery and his return to London stadium.
And now as Hammers fans we look forward with a sense of foreboding – which demands that Potter needs to change something before Goodison Park at the weekend.
Need a left winger and a striker for the midfield to aim at.
I thought you were a real Hammer who supports his team through thick and thin? You didn’t go to the game but still criticize potter? It’s Sullivan who you should be criticizing no new arrivals in January and also suggesting no new arrivals in the summer except freebies!!!
The starting 11 were fine until they weren’t. Not changing things up when Soucek was clearly falling behind is on Potter. The wholesale changes that followed the inevitable goal were pointless (literally).
So, do the managers not see the obvious, or does their insight hold back replacing the mediocre with the unable?
Did I miss the part where got beat 8-1? Sure, it wasn’t much chop but we lost 1-0 against a better team. It happens and I think an element of our fan base have some seriously unrealistic expectations. The lads tried but we lack pace and skill in midfield. If Soucek had of scored that absolute sitter early on it would have been a whole different game. China up.
*chins
So Potter, “has only been at the club a little over two months” so he get a free pass. After a window and nine competitive games.
Lopetegui got this at the end of September from Gonzo, “Lopetegui may have unwittingly provided insight into his team selections and substitutions, which have baffled more than a few West Ham fans recently.
The Hammers’ head coach still seems no closer to knowing his starting eleven than the day he joined. However, perhaps the pressure of the last week has focused his mind on what he is looking for.”
That was after a window and 8 competitive games.
Time will tell if Potter is the right manager for West Ham; I do hope so. But one can’t help wonder why he is being given an easier ride than the previous incumbent; because what we are seeing at the moment is the same questions being asked about team selection, but the conclusion being drawn is different i.e. lopetgui “clueless”, Potter “only been here two months”.
On checking v Man City we had 17 shots, 4 on target, last night we managed 9 shots, 2 on target; it was dire.
What a game to look forward to, two managers who put a clean sheet over everything else
It’s so easy to predict a boring 0-0 draw