West Ham manager Graham Potter has done a decent job of fixing the Hammers’ broken defence—and not just after Julen Lopetegui, either.
Last season, West Ham conceded a whopping 73 goals, the club’s worst defensive record in Premier League history. To put that into context, the EPL was founded in 1992, meaning last season’s defence was the worst in over a third of a century!
Julen Lopetegui took over as Irons boss in the summer, and to put it bluntly, his defence was just as bad as David Moyes’s. Therefore, it’s worth highlighting how well Potter has done to sort out the club’s horrific backline and arrest the goal difference slide.
However, with only nine goals scored in his first nine games, Potter has a serious problem in attack. Against Everton, the team mustered just seven shots throughout the game, and the strikerless system is killing the effectiveness of Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
Kudus, in particular, looks a million miles away from scoring, while Bowen hasn’t featured in his best position since Potter took charge. There is precious little creativity in midfield, and West Ham’s two forwards often look isolated, unable to trouble opposition defences.
With little or nothing left to play for this season, Potter should shift his focus to generating more goals. Since his arrival, the Hammers have been the least creative team in the Premier League—a huge shift from before.
While Lopetegui’s defence was a disaster, his team still managed 17 shots at the Etihad in his final game. Surely, there has to be some balance? If West Ham continue in the same way for the last nine games of the season, players like Kudus and Bowen will become totally fed up.
Tad unfair on David Moyes. His hands were tied for his last season in charge. He had no influence on recruitment as he was ending his employment at the finish of the season.
He did very well, with the staff he had left, to progress so well in Europe and deliver Premier League safety.
Lies, damned lies and statistics spring to mind.
I tell you what I know Potter of old Hes had a shambles to work with and achieved a lot in a small time One thing for sure if we keep knocking him He will walk away from us and it’s not far away trust me
Potter’s teams historically don’t create an awful lot of chances if you look at the stats.
That’s why I was (and am) somewhat unconvinced he’s a good appointment.
The same fans calling for “take more risks” and “take the handbrake off”, “theres nothing to lose the season is over” will be the first to demand “Potter out” , “its worse than the Spanish fraud”. “He’s just a Brummie Moyes” etc. when we start shipping 2, 3, 4 goals or more in games again. Because our midfield without a Declan Rice type profile of player severely restricts tactical options and risk taking.
Having Summerville might help or a fit central striker as we could perhaps become more effective going direct which obviously fails now with lightweight Bowen and Kudus up top. But playing thru the middle and pressing high, amd not being vilnerable to a fast counter? No chance of addressing that until the central midfield squad is rebuilt. Imho 😊