With only six games remaining West Ham are now just above the relegation zone, marking what can only be described as a disastrous season.
Both Julen Lopetegui and Graham Potter have failed to deliver, with the clubs performance significantly regressing from last seasons ninth- place finish. Whilst some supporters may argue that Potter needs more time, the statistics speak for themselves – three wins in thirteeen, and seven losses.
It is no secret that a Board member had serious doubts about Potter’s credentials, and previously stated that he believed the manager’s success at Brighton was partially due to the clubs infrastructure rather than solely his managerial capability. The same board member also had grave reservations about appointing Ruben Amorin, citing concerns about his success being limited to Portugal with Sporting.
However, the real mistake was in appointing Julen Lopetegui, who was brought in largely based on his previous Premier League experience, and success in keeping Wolves up. Jacob Steinberg recently wrote an insightful article for the Guardian, identifying the core issues and pointing fingers at both Tim Steidten for a disastrous transfer strategy and Lopetegui who tried to implement an expansive style with a squad built for David Moyes’ counter-attacking football.
When it comes to Steidten, one often over looked point is that he wasn’t solely responsible for all the incoming transfers. Max Kilman, a player recommended by Julen Lopetegui was backed by the club who then overpaid significantly to bring him in. Similarly, players like Summerville (identified by a board director), Rodriguez and Soler were both known by Lopetegui.
West Ham now have the oldest squad in the Premier League as a consequence, yet Lopetegui inherited a team that was already the second oldest and the club had lost young players such as Ben Johnson and Divin Mubama.
The excuses keep piling up – shoring up defence instead of focussing on attack, lack of pace and more.
The latter is in particular frustrating, especially when considering the fact the club have a young Brazilian who has clocked an impressive 36.4km/h yet has barely featured, while similarly Crysencio Summerville, underused before his injury, has a top speed of 34.88km/h.
On paper there is a nucleus of a good team, who need proper direction. Why is it so widely accepted that attacking play must be sacrificed for defensive solidity? The club are already planning for next season, and are backing Potter and his backroom staff. The budget will be a lot less, and they will be looking at affordable, long term solutions.
West Ham fans will be hoping for positive changes, as the excuses are quickly wearing thin.
The problem is Sullivan. He allowed a ludicrous transfer policy under Moyes that resulted in a small old squad, it suited not spending. He then appointed Lopetegui who nobody in their right mind thought was the man. Supposedly went with Steidten but brought in his own players, the coaches players, and wouldn’t pay a bit extra when it actually came to one of Steidtens players. Sullivan is a one man disaster and we will never achieve out potential while he makes his deranged decisions.
lol the problem is the BOARD MEMBER. Everyone knows it and until the BOARD MEMBER is gone WHUFC will always struggle.
P.S. season tickets now up for renewal
At least he has sorted out our defence to some extent. I’ve not agreed with everything he has done, I’m still baffled why he hasn’t given Ferguson more of a run out at home, but we have been playing without a fit CF all year and it has really hurt us. Make a decent signing or 3 and with the talent we have next season should be alot better. Got to give the guy more of a chance to turn things around.
Agree, but I also thought he needed to prove he could do more with the players we already have. I think he is doing exactly that now. That is a good sign, as for me it means his coaching includes improving the playing ability of established players (tactically, their approach, mindset, how would I know?!), not only the youngsters, etc. I do not know if GP is a good manager, I hope he proves to be, but like his attitude and hope he’ll be with the club for a long time bringing stability and brand of football we can enjoy and feel proud of the club for. Someone wrote how we used to be a proper club, with proper fans and the constant knee jerk criticism was not what the knowledgeable fans were about. I also hope GP’s tenure will with time bring us to being a club we’ll cheer through thick and thin. The past managers we have had, (apart from DM’s moment of brilliant glory in Europe & Bilic), have been regressive and we’ve lost that feeling. Plus the ground, but am not a season ticket holder or anything, so I’ll stay schtum on that.
Disappointing…yes, but disastrous is a gross exaggeration, Matt. West Ham might be 17th with 35 points – but they’re streets ahead of relegation candidates Ipswich who have a massive14 points less. Everton have just 3 points more than West Ham and are in13th place.
The remaining six games will see us playing already relegated Southampton next, then a faltering bunch in Brighton, Spurs, Man United and Forest, before finishing at Ipswich who will be long gone by then. A final 13th or 14th is very possible for West Ham.
The ‘oldest squad’ in the Premier League is due to five players who hardly feature – Fabianski, Foderingham, Cresswell, Ings and Antonio. It’s likely that none of them will be around next season.
When you don’t put a negative spin on the current situation, things aren’t as bad as you paint them, Matt. Graham Potter will build his own squad for next season….he will already know who he wants to have around for pre-season training. Give him a chance, eh?
What has happened to this site, it used to be a respected site for insightful knowledge and balance opinion which resonated with the football minded Hammer, now its just thoughtless opinion blurted out with no context and rationale of any observation.
I dont know how many people now post up articles for the site but all of them are lead towards inciting fear and panic the football club is a mess and if we arent challenging for the league then sack the manager and the players are terrible, yet go back to the summer and everyone was raving about the business done. yes hindsight its not worked out for some of the players and certainly loppy but, constant need for negativity is relentless. Has the season gone well, no, are well all more than disappointed, yes, are there people to hold to account, yes, has Potter set the word on fire, no but the context to this is he inherited injuries and a team low on confidence, especially at the back. has he taken positive steps, yes, made us more structured and unlikely to concede 4 a game but that has come at a cost in attacking areas, which until the summer when he has a pre season will continue. we don’t have the players to play on the counter which is the effect other managers appointed mid season have the luxury of doing, so he has found a balance to navigate to the end of the season. a bit dull for now but we can all see from the way he Brighton team played that given a full pre season to fully implement his style (which i guess he chose to keep simple for the lack of confidence players to this point) and the right acquisitions for his style then better days are ahead. turn up on a matchday sing your heart out get behind the club you support and stop worrying yourself with every tiny detail.
Spot on, mate. You’ve highlighted the reasons why I hardly ever visit the site these days.
THIS……is the very reason why I have lost so much respect for this site and as a result NEVER post.
It has become a “pick the bones out of that” site! Nonsense articles are pumped out, without thought, responsibilty or structure…… It is about time someone took note of where this site is heading and took the reins.
Fear and Panic can only work for so long, before the knowledgable supporters leave.
Not a Clue is Spot on with obvious observations. Before Potter was appointed, we were desperately looking to avoid relegation with this squad and after he was appointed it was all about avoiding relegation, so that in the summer he could overhaul this squad and look forward with positivity to the 2025/26 season…….
So what has changed? What result were we meant to get at Liverpool with this squad?
Unbelievable!
THIS……is the very reason why I have lost so much respect for this site and as a result NEVER post.
It has become a “pick the bones out of that” site! Nonsense articles are pumped out, without thought, responsibilty or structure…… It is about time someone took note of where this site is heading and took the reins.
Fear and Panic can only work for so long, before the knowledgable supporters leave.
Not a Clue is Spot on with obvious observations. Before Potter was appointed, we were desperately looking to avoid relegation with this squad and after he was appointed it was all about avoiding relegation, so that in the summer he could overhaul this squad and look forward with positivity to the 2025/26 season…….
So what has changed? What result were we meant to get at Liverpool with this squad?
Unbelievable!
Yes, hope for a successful season has turned into what would have been a serious fear of relegation in any other season. The club seems to have been blessed with several top talents in Areola, Kilman, Todibo, Wann Bissaka, Paqueta, Bowen, Kudus, Summerville; yet has struggled all season to put a solid performance together. For that, you have got to blame the manager, the coaches , the owners &, oh yes, the players ! There is something very very wrong, somewhere. What exactly happens behind the scenes ? Why could Summerville hardly get a game; Ferguson cannot get a game ; & Guilherme is only now being considered as a usable option ? What is actually wrong with West Ham ? Of all the last 4 managers, only Moyes has had any success – notable success in 3 league campaigns & the Conference League !
For me he was never the right choice Brady has far to much influence on the board But I am prepared to give him next season to turn it around although i cant see it happening I believe He thinks far to highly of himself
haven’t seen any indication of that. seems fairly level-headed to me, and never heard him speak about himself, actually.
The statistic (just one) that you choose to focus on is misleading/disingenuous, at best. The real stats tell a different story. An improvement in most areas, especially goals conceded. An attack that has suffered significant injuries, not least in losing Summerville in Potters first game (where he looked terrifying and Fullkrug was looking good too). Do the contributors on this site know anything about West Ham or do they just have very short term memories?
Referencing the prior season, where we finished ninth solely off the back of numerous freak results in the first half of that season (where we had very little possession and were flunking goals with our only shot/s on target) before reverting to normal service of the previous year (in PL) is laughable. In truth, if you really do want to KNOW about stats, we’d been on the slide since the end of Moyes first full season. A sixth place (very respectable), but one that ran out of steam thanks to Moyes love of a small/old squad with little to zero rotation. A pattern that was to be repeated every season….
agree with all of that. all of it, except that after the season in which we finished 6th, we then finished 7th. then 16th and an incredibly flattering 9th, with a squad that was too old and small for the task of PL and European football. but well made points, JohnE
Our fans will still spend all day getting to the ground and spending lots of money will they stop going of course not and the directors know it and I have attended games for seventy five years. And the future is the Sullivan family god help us,see you Saturday.
Give the guy a break we need three or four new faces if you saw game yesterday we played very well but again VAR dosent give us anything just see this season out add 3/4 new players we’ve got half desent team Xmas this year we will know where we are with potter
Hear hear
Agreed.
Perhaps Sullivan has shrewdly inserted a relegation clause into Potter’s contract so that Westham can be rid of him for ‘free’ next season if the worst happens .
Seconded, give the guy a break and time to bed in player’s and adjust to a style of playing, it takes time. His priority to bring the age down of the entire squad by developing young academy and buying eager, talented player’s from the transfer market but keeping reliable experienced player’s to help them develop.
I was there yesterday and I must say the 2nd hald performance was much improved. We’ve been in end of season mode since Feb, so at least GP has had a chance to assess what we have. I’m now loooking forward to the next six games much, but I am next season!
I am not sure what we want the manager to say sometimes – he also has to encourage his players – he has said on a number of occasions that results need to improve
To me the most damning statistic is the number of managers that we have been through under Sullivan (Zola, Grant, BFS, Bilic, Moyes, Pellegrini, Moyes, Lopetegui) leading up to Potter
The most long lived of these were BFS and Moyes (mark 2)
No doubt if we were Forest we would have been calling for Nunes head at the end of last season
You lot make me die you need to decide what side of the fence you’re on. I’ve often defended you against people on here but the way you flip flop your opinion on an hourly basis is comical. One minute we need patience and to know that Potter is a 3 year project, next minute he’s a failure for not performing an 60 minute makeover. Make your minds up lads this site used to be such a great source of hammers info probably the best out there, now it’s just 2nd hand stories that every other site has reported hours sometimes days before.
What are Sullivans excuses then ?
Well said . All the issues this season are down to him . And him alone
As much as I dislike Sullivan and Brady and the some of their ridiculous buys, who on earth would want to buy out West Ham in their current position? 17th in the league only 1 place above the relegation places and out of every cup in the early rounds. Players on huge wages who have only played a few minutes this season and a huge transfer budget needed on top for the squad overhaul. The club can’t even sell the shares which David Gold held and we have about as much chance of getting back in Europe as Southampton! Anyone expecting Sullivan and the rest to sell up, Sorry it’s never going to happen.