Report – Page 3 – Under The Hammers

Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Potter If You Think West Ham Are Done?

With Potter’s ‘competitive’ Hammers tumbling to the eighth defeat of his reign, he is now destined to end the season with a worse record than the derided and sacked Lopetegui. Where on earth do we go from here?

Whatever the outcome of West Ham’s season closer at Ipswich next weekend, Graham Potter will end the season with an inferior points per game record to the sacked manager he replaced. Being unable to raise even this lowest of bars makes a mockery of his claim that the team have become more competitive under his stewardship. How can a football team be more competitive, yet the outcomes be worse? The operation was a success, but the patient died!

One wonders what Potter’s objectives for the season were when he sat down on day one at the Rush Green training ground. Time would, of course, be needed to get to know the squad of players he had inherited; their strengths, their limitations and how they would fare as part of a possession-based team. But after that, what next? What if the players were not suited to his preferred style of keep the ball at the expense of anything else football? What if his mission to become tighter at the back could only be achieved by stifling the attacking threat of your most valuable players? Experience suggests there was no apparent plan for such scenarios. No desire to find an equilibrium between the ‘vision’ and what the resources could deliver. Just carry on repeating what didn’t work, or couldn’t be accomplished, regardless. The pursuit of perfection as the enemy of good.

If a significant proportion of the squad are unlikely to be still at the club come the start of next season anyway, why fixate so stubbornly on converting them to an alien style of play in the interim? And why not use the risk-free time for experimentation and to take a look at the club’s youth?

The predicament has been no more obvious than in the games played at the London Stadium. The record speaks for itself: two wins and four defeats in nine games with just ten goals scored. Hardly the stuff to keep supporters entertained or on the edge of their seats. Where there have been decent performances (or results) they have all come in away games. The coach has spoken about turning performances into points, but no home fixture springs to mind where the team picked up fewer points than deserved.

It was a rinse and repeat performance for Sunday’s visit of Nottingham Forest. Flattered by the previous week’s success against a disinterested and demotivated Manchester United, Potter elected to field an unchanged starting eleven. He obviously anticipated no downside to pitting the world’s slowest midfield against an opponent famous for the speed and precision of their counterattacks. Oblivious also to the idea that supporters might welcome a display to shout about in the final home game of a dismal season. What has so often been celebrated as a carnival occasion had turned into a wake. Leave them wanting more, isn’t that what they say? Who in their right mind would want more of what the coach has served up so far?

As ever there was an all too brief opening flurry from the Hammers. A lively start that saw a smart save from a Tomas Soucek header and a moment where Vladimir Coufal might have broken his West Ham goal scoring duck. In his post-match comments, Potter said they had tried to be on the front foot, but it was never going to last long with the unambitious lineup he had chosen. True to form the visitors first took control of the game, if not possession, and then took the lead when the folly of playing out from the keeper was mercilessly exploited by the impressive Gibbs-White. It is clear to even the most casual observer that Alphonse Areola is like a deer in the headlights with the ball at his feet, and yet the tactic has persisted.

For a team that scores so few goals, falling behind is a routine fatal error. Not once this season have West Ham recovered from conceding first to win a game. It was a record that never looked like coming to an end this time either. Forest were happy to concede possession, sit deep in the knowledge their opponents lacked the craft and imagination to break through, and wait patiently for the opportunity to score a second.

In a break with tradition, the Hammers passed on the half-time substitution ploy in favour of a quadruple change just before the hour mark. The switch had an immediate impact when the visitors doubled their lead shortly afterwards. Two changes at the break and two on the hour would surely have been less disruptive.

However, with the slowest players removed and the introduction of several with a more progressive mindset, the intensity of the West Ham attacks increased. An intensity fuelled by a growing frustration at the visitor’s blatant and unpunished time-wasting tactics.

This game has to be up there with the worst ever when it comes to the combined efforts of the officiating team. The referee was criminally weak on the time wasting and play acting employed by the visitors – a tactic that descended into embarrassing as the clock ticked down. He had lost control well before the end and the bizarre drop ball sequence that preceded the final whistle. Meanwhile VAR taking six minutes to decide whether an offside player had impacted play or not was a further example of how it has failed to fulfil its original purpose of checking for obvious errors. It has taken on a life of its own to look for things that no-one wanted from it and which had never been an issue in the past. If the authorities want to take action to improve the integrity of the football, then it should look at eliminating the cancer of dark arts that is increasingly creeping into the game (I’m looking at you, Nottingham Forest). Not checking for sub-millimetre offside calls.

We were at least treated to a wonderful Jarrod Bowen goal before the game ended. To repeat what many others have said: where would we be without him? There was also a very respectable cameo from the talented Luis Guilherme in the closing stages. Why haven’t we seen more from him – or from the academy players come to that – given the overall pointlessness of the past dozen games or so? And what the hell happened to Andy Irving who after a promising start at Chelsea has only played one more minute of first team football.

Thankfully, there is only one more game of the campaign to endure. I’m assuming we will start next season with Potter in charge but there is a mountain for him to climb if he is to convince as the right man for the job at West Ham. Even if he and Macaulay do manage to work wonders in the transfer market (and I believe their contribution to Brighton’s success in that area is wildly exaggerated) there are still many questions as to how well the football fits with supporter expectations. The media holds him in high esteem, but I do wonder what that is based on. It’s not from winning games and enterprising football. COYI!

Groovin’ On A Sunday Afternoon: West Ham’s Dad’s Army See Off Manchester’s Young Rascals

A welcome win for West Ham against an awful and disinterested Manchester United side in the weekend sunshine. Does it tell us anything we didn’t know? Probably not!

If you had woken suddenly from a season long coma to the news that West Ham had completed the double against the mighty Manchester United – and climbed above the two ‘big six’ Europa Cup finalists in the league table – then you might have been fooled into thinking this must surely be a time of great joy. A reason for good old east-end knees-up.

Surely, it had to mean Champions League football at the London Stadium next year with a victorious open top bus parade already planned. Only later would it be realised that the game was in fact an inconvenient, end-of-season affair. A match between two of the bottom six where, due to a bizarre alignment of the planets, the hapless Red Devils are still in with a shout of qualifying for the Champions League. Whatever the one-game-at-a-time mutterings from the Manchester United manager, next week’s final is clearly a far greater priority than was the visit of West Ham for Matchweek 36.

At a club where baffling team selections have become as commonplace as a chorus of Bubbles, scientists were able to measure reaction to the announcement of Graham Potter’s starting eleven on the Richter scale. Niclas Fullkrug and Edson Alvarez were once again left on the naughty step, there was not a youth player in sight, an unnecessary full back shuffle, and (as a coup de grace) a recall for the much-maligned Guido Rodriguez. It was the Argentine’s first start since the home defeat by Crystal Palace in mid-January. Not a player that we had ever expected to see line up in the claret in blue ever again.

Even by West Ham standards it was a very old team. An average age of 29.6 – six players aged over 30 and just one younger than 25. Confidence was low that the Premier League Dad’s Army would have any chance of putting an end to the dismal run of eight games without a win.

What we didn’t know, however, was that agreement had been reached to play the game as a demonstration of walking football. With a level of intensity expected at an OAP’s Sunday morning tai chi lesson on the Common. Ironically, it was ideally suited to many of our players whose undoubted training ground competence is routinely undone when put under pressure by fast pressing opponents. Fortunately, Manchester United did none of that. Either because they lack the players to execute it or were more concerned about picking up injuries in advance of their trip to Bilbao.

It is between amusing and surprising to see the poor value and quality that poses as the present-day Manchester United squad. Assembled at huge expense it is prima facie evidence of how not to run a football club. It’s possible that some of the younger signings will turn out to be future gems, but overall, you would have to say their transfer policy is even more shoddy than the Hammers. The exception to the rule is Bruno Fernandes who appears to have carried them single handedly over the past four of five seasons. So ineffective were they in attack that it was only after the introduction of Harry Maguire that the threat level was raised in the West Ham defence. I had read an article at the weekend that Hojlund was eager to prove himself at the highest level. It made me wonder whether he had considered a career change to scaffolder.

Predictably, the West Ham goals were scored by Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen. Together, they have notched over a half of their side’s Premier League total this season. I am conflicted about the contribution made by the big Czech. You couldn’t hope for more committed player and, of course he regularly weighs in with important goals from an otherwise impotent midfield. Yet, he is anonymous for long periods allowing the game to pass him by. Is that enough in the modern game where speed of thought and action – press, pass, carry – have set the standards of midfield play?

To be fair, Soucek had a decent game; put in some important blocks and even got involved in the exhibition of one touch passing that the Hammers put on towards the end. But that was the story of the game for other West Ham players too. Given time and space they can look at home at this level. Sadly, it all falls to pieces against quicker, aggressive opponents.

Despite sitting on an apparently comfortable 2-0 lead, it wouldn’t be a West Ham game without a nail-biting finale. In his wisdom, Potter elected to remove Bowen and Mohammed Kudus in a double substitution on 73 minutes with both players looking equally unimpressed with the decision. Removing his only out-ball runners is a tactic that hadn’t worked well for the coach in the past, so he decided to try it once again anyway – just in case. It immediately invited extra pressure as the Hammers found it increasingly difficult to clear their lines. Was it part of Fullkrug’s punishment to abandon him up top without any recognised service or support?

Still a win is a win; and they don’t come along frequently enough to belittle. I am not sure we learned anything new from the experience, although we are now TOP of the bottom six and can go into the remaining two games with a modicum of positivity. The magical 40-point mark has been reached, and if another four can be mustered it will raise Potter’s points-per-game above that of Lopetegui. I suppose that would be progress of sorts!

The opening gambit in the annual player clear out was revealed a few days back with the announcement that Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal, Lukasz Fabianski, and Danny Ings would be leaving the London Stadium in the summer. The signing of Ings was a monumental blunder for both club and player. Another casualty of not bothering to sign a striker that suits your style of play. While I find it hard to associate millionaire footballers with the concept of being great servants, the other three have each had distinguished careers at the club. Cresswell’s 11 years at West Ham (360+ games, 11 goals) deserve our recognition and the opportunity for his greatest send-off since that night in Frankfurt; Coufal will not now get the chance to equal Tomas Repka’s modern record of the most games played by an outfield player without scoring; and Fab will fall eight short of 100 career Premier League clean sheets (43 at West Ham). We wish them well. COYI!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon: West Ham’s Shameful Attempts To Get On With Their Neighbours

Oh, Mr Potter what shall we do? We wanted a young dynamic coach, and we ended up with you! The Hammers extend their winless run to eight games in instantly forgettable El Naffico.

For a contest billed as one of the most eagerly anticipated of the season by both sets of fans, this was a spectacularly grim, dull, featureless, and uninteresting affair. The dampest of squibs, where having been thoroughly soaked beforehand, an attempt was made to set off the squib in full sunlight, behind a huge, soundproof wall. It was as if all involved (players and managers) saw the battle for 16^th place as an unimportant inconvenience. Paying no heed to the significance of the clash for supporters.

It goes without saying that it has been a dreadful season for both West Ham and Tottenham. It is impossible to deny the evidence of the league table despite any flannel you might hear about injuries or periods of transition. Yet despite this, Tottenham are on the brink of a Europa Cup final – and the allure of Champions League qualification beyond that. They could be excused for regarding Sunday’s game as one of secondary importance – especially in an away game. A second-string team selection clearly underlined that position.

For West Ham, there was no excuse whatsoever and a virtually fully fit squad to choose from. It was a perfect opportunity to end a run of seven winless games while getting one of over on local rivals at the same time. But they offered nothing. With a couple of notable exceptions (in Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Wan-Bissaka) there was only disinterest and apathy. It was a shameful insult to the many thousands of home fans, to whom a full and frank apology needs to be made by all concerned. The Tottenham players couldn’t have hoped for an easier afternoon allowing Big Ange to leave his more experienced substitutes on the bench.

It’s now eight games (and four points) without a win for Potter’s team. There’s every chance it will be 11 by the end of the season with a failure to hit 40 points. The coach’s personal tally is now a shabby 15 games and 14 points. It’s not just a lack of improvement since his appointment; results are even worse than under a manger who was deemed underperforming enough to get the sack. Isn’t the job of a supposedly top coach to get the best from the resources at his disposal? It is hardly an endorsement of coaching skills if half-decent performances must wait until he has the right type of players assembled. And a complete waste of time to employ such a coach mid-season. Are we really to trust him with the transfer millions in the summer? The man who believed the old-pals act of bringing in the unfit Evan Ferguson as a sole January signing was a wise move. Jordan Hugill Mk 2 more like.

We have written in these columns many times before that under the current ownership, West Ham is a club with no discernible football strategy, beyond the taking of random decisions designed to stroke egos in the Boardroom. It stumbles along from year to year, making arbitrary razmataz appointments and signings, hoping for the best and that the occasional gem pops out from the academy. Fans (or customers) have been seriously alienated and the community connection that one underpinned the great club has long been severed. Who among us believes that when Potter is eventually given the heave-ho, that his replacement will be anything other than short-sighted, expedient, unplanned and unimaginative.

There is no doubt that the current squad has plenty of holes in it. It started with Moyes and his preference for a small squad of players suited to his low-block style of play. One that he allowed to age with no plan for succession. The triumvirate of Sullivan, Lopetegui and Steidten then wasted millions on recruitment without addressing the fundamental structural issues whereby a host of players were past their prime and lacked the pace, power and athleticism now necessary in Premier League football. The squad’s a mess, but too big a mess to sort out in one go.

Many comments overnight have suggested that Bowen and Wan-Bissaka are the only two regular first-teamers worth keeping. I don’t disagree with the sentiment but am afraid we will have to put with some of the others for a little while longer yet.

I’m in two minds about the keeper situation. Areola is up there with the best as a reliable shot stopper but is clearly uncomfortable with the ball at his feet. I’m not particularly a fan of playing out from the keeper and saw a suggestion recently that only very few teams scored more than they conceded as a direct consequence of this tactic. With all the other squad priorities, I wonder where a ball-playing keeper should rank. A younger keeper to replace Fab as number two, and eventually become first choice might be a more reasonable option.

In defence, I see no reason not to keep faith with Todibo. Although there have been concerns with his fitness record while at West Ham, I’m not sure that is why he was substituted yesterday. He looks a decent defender to me. I am less confident about the other central defensive options where Kilman has become as ineffective as Mavropanos of late. His gaffe for the Tottenham goal being as bad as anything the Greek has served up this season. He did appear to play as less of a spectator yesterday, although his newfound aggression mainly manifested itself by fouls on Richarlison. Ironically, the ageing Creswell put in one of the better performances – but he is hardly one for the future.

As for the full backs, Coufal’s best days are well behind him – and he has proved one of the club’s best value for money signings – while Emerson (despite having good technique) gives the impression of someone more interested in topping up their retirement pot. Although Scarles early promise took a hit from several bouts of defensive uncertainty, it is a peculiar management approach to drop him completely from matchday squads. Especially, when you see forgotten men such as Ings and Rodriguez getting a regular seat on the bench.

Midfield is even more of a muddle. There is no player we should be desperate to hang on to. Surely Alvarez has burned his boats after falling out with the last two managers and there is clearly an attitude problem in there somewhere. As nice a guy as Soucek is, I don’t get why some regard him as a West Ham legend. According to an Opta analysis published in March 2025, he is the top jogger (and one of the slowest players) in the entire Premier League. Alongside him as top joggers are Guimaraes, Tielemans, Fernandes and Caicedo – yet each of those players have close to twice the number of touches as big Tom. And therein lies the problem, the game goes on around him with minimal contribution other than the occasional goal.

Paqueta’s future is inextricably tied up with the ongoing spot fixing investigation. Whatever the outcome, he is likley to be leaving in the summer; the only question being whether the club pick up some cash as a transfer fee in the process. I must admit I have always struggled to see him as a Pep Guardiola type of player given his casual attitude to giving away possession – and then pretending he is injured. It will surprise me if he has any suitors in the Premier League. The same goes for all our midfield players unless Moyes is stupid enough to go for Soucek. Soler has not done enough to earn a permanent deal, and Rodriguez will also surely be back off to Spain. There’s a chance that JWP will stick around unless he returns to Southampton in a player-coach role.

The one moment of intrigue on Sunday’s game was Paqueta coming close to tears after being booked by the increasingly fussy refereeing by Michael Oliver. I wonder whether Betway are already scouring through the number of Paqueta not to receive a yellow record bets placed from Brazil.

The biggest hope for a cash windfall in the summer is the sale of Mohammed Kudus to either a Champions League club or the Saudi league. His performances this season must surely have put a dent in the number of clubs willing to stump up the full release clause fee. Hopefully they haven’t been watching too closely or else view his insistence on performing a series of tricks, turns, and showboating before releasing the ball as a West Ham specific frustration. Why he wasn’t replaced by Guilherme in the second half yesterday is another mystery known only to the gaffer.

While a new striker remains a top priority (as it has done since Tony Cottee retired) I would like to see Fullkrug stay on for another season. His wasn’t a great performance against Tottenham and he seemed more interested in drawing a second yellow card challenge from Davies than getting involved in open play. But he has the right attitude for shaking up the dressing room and can play an importnat role as backup striker.

So, there you have it. Not much work needs to be done; other than two central defenders, a left back, three or four midfielders and a striker or two. All for whatever money can be found down the back of the boardroom sofa. The challenge will be in spending all that change wisely. Not on established stars but those with bags of potential. We cannot afford to again blow a huge part of the budget (whatever that turns out to be) on a single player. COYI!

Careful What You Wish For: Is This David Sullivan’s Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Another desperate week sees West Ham pluck defeat from the jaws of victory at Brighton while the head coach goes berserk in his post-match press conference. It’s now seven games without a win for Potter!

And so here we are again. Another game featuring questionable team selection, a shocking first half performance, improvement after the break, baffling substitutions and the sucker punch of a late goal. Topped off this week by our head coach – a student of psychology and emotional intelligence – melting as quickly as a slice of American cheese during his post-match press conference.

Pre-match expectations are increasingly managed these days by the announcement of the teams 75 minutes before kick-off. I had fully expected Graham Potter to fall back on a 3/ 5-man defence for this much anticipated return to Brighton. After all the 4-1 defeat he suffered as Chelsea manager must still have hurt and there was no way he was going to let that happen again.

Having complained that Niclas Fullkrug’s outburst after of the Southampton game had been unhelpful, and that such frank exchanges were best aired in private, Potter made a very public statement by relegating the German to the bench. No amount of denials or flannel about managing the striker’s fitness can disguise the obvious truth, Graham. Will he now drop himself for next week’s match following his own red-faced rant?

Fullkrug’s omission meant it was a switch back to a 3-5-2 formation of sorts, with Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus taking up narrow forward positions in front of a midfield three of Lucas Paqueta, Tomas Soucek and James Ward-Sideways. The bonus was the return of Aaron Wan-Bissaka to resume his one-man campaign for the Hammer of the Year award.

As ever, the fly in the ointment of the Potter machine are the struggles in midfield. Again constrained by a combination of individual limitations of the players involved and the role asked of them to maintain possession purely for the sake of it. The dilemma (or should that be dullema) is that having played out reluctantly and uncomfortably from the back to beat a high press, the midfield faffs around with the ball for so long that opponents have ample opportunity to retreat and set a second press. The result: no creativity, forward momentum and few scoring opportunities. Like Lopetegui before him, Potter has prioritised a system over the player’s ability to deliver it.

Does that mean we will see improvements once the coach has assembled a squad in his own image? Possibly yes, but how many windows and how many seasons is it going to take to assemble a team capable of competing at the right end of the table? It is a luxury and timescale that is rarely available to Premier League managers in an environment where revenues generated from league position and European competition are crucial to releasing the funds required for effective squad building. A case of forever chasing ones tail.

The high point of an otherwise drab first half at the Amex Stadium was a fine strike by Ayari for Brighton’s opener. As good a goal as it was, it owed much to the Hammer’s failure to put him under pressure. When he received the ball, there were eight West Ham outfield players inside the box but none withing 15 yards of the ball. A token Paqueta challenge was the best on offer.

Half time saw Fullkrug replace JWP allowing Bowen and Kudus to take wider positions in a 3-4-3. Whether it was the formation and personnel changes or whether it’s just that the team are prepared to try harder after the break is anyone’s guess. The shape certainly looked better. While the performance never convinced consistently, West Ham did contrive to take the lead through goals from Kudus and Soucek. Both courtesy of Bowen assists underlining how more effective he is from wide positions.

The euphoria was short lived however as two Brighton goals in the closing minutes not only denied the visitors a rare victory but left them empty handed once again. Was it a recurrence of the mentality problem? Were the players astonished – just like the week before – at the weirdness of the late substitution? The increasingly slow Vladimir Coufal brought on to play on his wrong side to fix a problem that didn’t exist. Was the real reason for Potter’s post-match meltdown a case of embarrassment for this managerial masterstroke?

There has been a Pavlovian response this season to blame Dinos Mavropanos for any goal conceded by West Ham – just as Thilo Kehrer was designated scapegoat in the past. I find the Greek not guilty on all charges this week and would go further to suggest that Max Kilman has increasingly developed into the greater worry. But due to negligence rather than obvious gaffes. He may be adept at winning aerial duels when they are directed straight at him, but he rarely attacks the ball or puts his body on the line – in the style of Craig Dawson or James Collins. It’s no surprise that such a casual approach is never a threat in the opposition box at set pieces. We should rightly expect more from a £40m defender who supposedly came with leadership qualities. Oh well, he’s only here for another six years.

The Brighton equaliser was the result of leaving a man completely unmarked at the far post and then allowing Mitoma to nip in unmarked to head home. Leaving Coufal and Kilman looking at each other in bemusement. The winner was another great strike by Baleba who again was given oceans of room to pick his spot as every West Ham player looked on admiringly from in and around their own box.

It’s 14 games now under Potter’s command. That’s no win in seven, and a grand total of 13 points earned and 14 goals scored. It’s long enough to have taken a good look behind the curtain; to get past the bluster, puff and hot air and discover this Potter is no wizard when it comes to coaching football. It’s a long way back from here. The question that has to be asked is whether the broken man seen in the post-match interview has what it takes to front up the challenge.

The consensus is that Potter will be (and should be) given the opportunity to preside over a summer pre-season and transfer window in an attempt to re-model the squad. Estimates vary on how much money is available to do this and who might need to be sacrificed to fill the coffers first. After that his future will be down to results. How ironic to find the club back in the self-same position as the previous summer. Needing to identify, negotiate, recruit and integrate a significant number of new faces – and all the problems that comes with this for a slow-burn manager needing a good start to the season.

If I was the type of person inclined towards conspiracy theories, I might suggest that all of the mayhem surrounding West Ham’s season was a dastardly act of vengeance by the West Ham chairman. In his eyes, his genius had saved the club from oblivion, provided a world class stadium, with a world class team that had delivered a European trophy. Yet the ungrateful supporters demanded entertainment in addition to the opportunity to buy merchandise, subscribe to membership schemes, and enjoy an open-top bus parade. What better way to teach them a lesson and get rid of the unwanted Technical Director (who had been foisted on him by that Czech geezer) than hiring a duff manager of two. That’ll learn them to be careful what they wish for. And show them the Chairman knows best.

I really don’t care about Sullivan’s private life, his choice of hats, or how he earned his (considerable) fortune. But I do care about how is holding back the club at a time of increasing change. Left alone, the club will fall further and further behind. As I have written before, its not that the board hasn’t invested in players – even if they will only ever consider recruiting out of work managers. The problem is that West Ham is run as the owners’ plaything. For prestige and to massage their egos. A glitzy, razmataz, exotic signing will get them moist while the hard work of data analysis, scouting and developing players leaves them cold. Does any other aspiring top club have an enthusiastic but amateur Chairman working in the role of Director of Football. No wonder its a shambles.

Modern day West Ham has abandoned its history and community roots except when it suits for PR purposes. It has no discernible identity and lacks even a half decent strategy for competing against the much richer clubs which dominate the football elite. While the owners will be desperate to preserve Premier League status – and hence the club’s asset value – there lies the limit of their ambitions. Unfortunately, current trajectory will see the Hammers among the favourites for the drop next season. We won’t always be able to rely on all three promoted clubs being rubbish. Sort it out. COYI!

Saints Preserve Us: The West Ham Masterclass On Game Mismanagement

There’s no looking on the brighter side of life as West Ham struggle to a point against one of the Premier League’s worst ever teams. Is it the manager or players who are to blame?

Yet another dreary afternoon in West Ham’s dismal season received a belated brush of colour by the post-match comments from Niclas Fullkrug. His honesty and passion are to be admired; and the mentality of the players may well be contributing to the recent trend of conceding late goals and dropped points. However, it does not tell the whole story of why performances have been so poor, and why the club appears to be a downward spiral to disaster.

The context of Saturday’s game is that West Ham put in a dreadful first half performance against one of the statistically worst sides ever to take part in a Premier League campaign. Once again, the Hammers were fortunate – or thankful for poor finishing – not to be a goal or two down at the half time whistle.

For a brief period, Jarrod Bowen’s well taken goal early in the second period looked like it might spark further goals and a repeat of the collapse the Saints experienced a week earlier against Aston Villa. But the threatened deluge never materialised and allowed the visitors to deservedly claw their way back into the game and claim their sixth away point of the season.

The essence of Fullkrug’s anger was that the players (or at least some of them) had ignored Graham Potter’s instructions by dropping deep rather than continuing to push forward for more goals. If that was the coach’s intent, then his sequence of strange substitutions had the entirely opposite effect. He may not have planned for his team to defend with seven across the back, but it was the unintended consequence of removing each of his realistic goal threats from the pitch.

We could perhaps offer Potter a degree of understanding – given that he had inherited such a ramshackle squad – were it not for his prior admission that his priority was sorting out the defence; and the fact that possession for the sake of it, and a reluctance to shoot, were very much central to the teams he has previously managed. If he can prove he has learned from those experiences all well and good but simply repeating them at West Ham will never end well.

The starting lineup for the game looked reasonably promising and attack minded. The notable absences being Aaron Wan-Bissaka through injury and Edson Alvarez who was dropped from the matchday squad without explanation. No doubt having fallen out with the manager due to either lack of game time or being asked to play out of position to accommodate others.

Any hopes of an attacking masterclass against the league’s leakiest defence, however, did not materialise. With JWP and Carlos Soler competing for the crown of the most pointless passes in a single match, momentum was quickly lost whenever West Ham gained possession. It was a Green Cross Code style of midfield play – Think, Stop, Look, Listen, Wait. If the coast is clear, pass it sideways.

At this time of year, we are always encouraged to look on the brighter side of life. To this end, the coach will happily pat himself on the back with the boast that his team have been competitive in every match, and supporters can take comfort that there are only five more games to endure. Just 13 points and 13 goals in 13 games is a funny kind of competitive though. As Niclas might have said “we’re a piece of sh*t when you look at it.”

Personally, I see at Potter’s style as part of the general malaise that is smothering entertainment in English football. Keeping possession and playing out from the back are just two useful tactics that have been developed into entire football philosophies where discipline and shape are preached at the expense of improvisation and flair. So many managers and coaches are fixated on the genius of their intricate systems for control and build up – like a game of 4-dimensional Mousetrap – while disenchanted supporters delight in fast, aggressive, forceful football.

Success may be able to paper over those cracks for a while – as we know from the Europa Conference victory- but will ultimately fail to satisfy the legacy fans who have a deep emotional connection to their club, as opposed to followers who look out for results and are happy to consume online content. Whoever said “football is a results business” is missing an enormous part of its true appeal. It’s not that results (or trophies) are unimportant – of course, they are – but they are not the be all and end all. It’s why so many had had enough of David Moyes.

With nothing of interest happening on the pitch, attention has inevitably turned to the summer transfer window. An endeavour which may or may not involve a massive overhaul of the squad. Reading from the more detailed analyses of West Ham’s finances – rather than the more hysterical headlines – the club does not have an immediate PSR problem. However, two seasons of poor performances in league and cups (and no European competition) will have stored up issues for future years reporting. The summer will likely see both comings and goings but that is true of all clubs in the current financial environment. The trick is in developing players and selling on at a profit – one of the many failings in West Ham recruitment policy over the years. Isn’t it the case that Declan Rice is the only player the club have sold for more than £25 million?

There are a good number in the squad I’d happily see depart and only a handful I’d be disappointed to lose. I doubt we have the capacity to shift all the deadwood in one go or can avoid sacrificing one or more of the better players. We can only sit back and see what Potter and Kyle Macaulay have up their sleeves. I hope the plan is far more cunning than just going back to the clubs they used to work at or signing duds from relegated clubs. Based on current direction of travel, a big turnaround is necessary if the Hammers are to avoid a genuine relegation battle next season.

Ultimately, West Ham’s woes stem from a lack of leadership in the Boardroom. Since the Gold and Sullivan takeover the club has been treated as a vanity project by the owners. It’s not fair to say they haven’t invested but the overriding motivation has been glitz, glamour and self-promotion. The hard work required to establish a strategic football philosophy, based on continuity and succession planning has been repeatedly ignored. Happy to stumble along from year to year as long as the asset value is not threatened by the loss of Premier League status. The involvement of Daniel Kretinsky has had little effect on constraining David Sullivan’s erratic running of the club – I guess West Ham is little more than another minor investment for the Czech sphinx.

The apparent scrapping of the Director of Football role is another backward step which reinforces Sullivan’s continued meddling in football matters that he doesn’t understand. It may only be speculation, but my sense is that he did whatever he could to undermine Tim Stediten’s role. Both by appointing a manger against his wishes and then not giving him full control over transfers – I’m fairly confident that none of Max Kilman, Guido Rodriguez or Carlos Soler were the German’s choices. With Sullivan now restored to the position of de facto DoF he can confidently repeat all the mistakes and missteps of the past 15 years.

In hindsight, West Ham should have stuck with Julen Lopetegui for the remainder of the season. Uninspiring as his tenure was, performances haven’t improved since his departure while results and league position have become worse. It would have saved on compensation and allowed a thorough recruitment process for a new head coach to take place during the summer when more options than the Chief Executive’s husband’s mate would be available.

I do wish Potter the best of luck and a fruitful transfer window, but he has made a dreadful start to his London Stadium career. The breath of fresh air that heralded his arrival has now been replaced by a man who never looks convinced himself by what he is saying. He will do well to survive to the end of next season. COYI!

Anfield Retrospective: West Ham Reprise Role of Gallant Losers in Attempt to Derail Liverpool Title March

The two best known anthems in English football sing about the fragility of dreams. Once more it is the dreams that are tossed and blown that triumph over those which fade and die

Looking back at Sunday’s game Liverpool in isolation left the impression of a decent performance where West Ham were maybe unfortunate not to come away with a share of the spoils. Whether, as some suggest, it represented the green shoots of improvement for the Graham Potter era is far less certain. The reality remains that league position, points per game, and goals scored have all deteriorated since the new manager’s appointment. The Hammers are now statistically the worst side in the league outside of the woeful bottom three. Such a decline is a huge disappointment for any coach, no matter what position was inherited at outset.

The match itself was less the game of two halves that has become the Hammer’s signature for much of the season, and more a game of four quarters. An opening quarter of total domination by the hosts, a period of relative stability where the visitors might easily have equalised and culminating with a final two quarters where, for long periods, the visitors looked much the better team. To bring the scores level only to quickly concede shortly afterwards was so West Ham. Adopting the role of gallant losers that is as much part of the club’s DNA as blowing bubbles.

If you watched the game on TV, you would have been exposed to a stream of nauseating Salah-vation during the match commentary in celebration of Mo’s contract extension. A situation that only got worse when his ‘goal-involvement’ cross was stroked home by Diaz after 18 minutes.

It was an afternoon to forget for Ollie Scarles who was given a torrid time by Salah. At times his defending was both naïve and weak, and his confidence shot to the point where it looked like he might burst out into tears. Hopefully, just a part of the learning curve although he has been unconvincing defensively in seeral of his recent games. A game or two out of the spotlight might help.

It did not come as a surprise to see Potter reverting to a back three when the teams were announced. It is a formation that is easier to justify away at Anfield than at home to Crystal Palace or Leicester. The drawback is that it doesn’t allow Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, and Niclas Fullkrug to fit into the system or shape at the same time. Following the positive impacts made by Fullkrug’s introduction in previous games it was extremely disappointing not to see him feature on the pitch until the 78^th minute.

Elsewhere, I would have preferred Edson Alvarez to have started in place of JWP but was relieved to see Tomas Soucek left on the bench. Until there is a rule change that allows players to come on just for set pieces, I don’t see what role the slumbering Czech can play in any side with an ambition to hold on to possession.

The pairing of Lucas Paqueta and Carlos Soler in the attacking midfield areas provided more creative spark and interplay than we have been used to in recent times. Both may have contributed their best football of season, especially during the second half when they were instrumental in the Hammers running the show. I wonder how many Paqueta Islanders had put a wager on the Brazilian knocking over the referee.

Paqueta did rather blot his copy book, however, with his role in the lead up to the Liverpool winner. There are certain areas of the pitch where looking to buy a foul is way too risky if there are no takers. His reputation for going down too easily and theatrically does him no favours at all. Of course, it is almost impossible these days to be certain what is and isn’t a foul. Without an insider understanding of the permitted force of a shove in the back; or how long you can rightfully hold on to an opponent’s shirt without being penalised we can only bow to the officials’ superior knowledge. Heads there was contact, he had a right to go down; tails, it was minimal contact, he went down too easily.

The dilemma was perfectly illustrated when Van Dyke headed the Liverpool winner. As the co-commentator euphemistically described it: “the nudge by Van Dyke moving Fullkrug out of the way”. Must be a little like pinball where a ‘nudge’ is allowed but a tilt is game over.

Whatever the likley outcome of the match, Liverpool will eventually be the 2024/25 Premier League champions. The home win simply brings forward the date on which it will be confirmed. It is difficult to argue that it is not deserved and a major achievement in Slot’s first season.

Thankfully, from a West Ham perspective there are only another six games to endure before the curtain comes down on one of the dullest campaigns in living memory. With a lowly league finish, no cup runs or European football, the Hammers have taken a massive step backwards compared to the clubs we mighty have imagined to be our financial equals outside the rich six – notably Newcastle and Aston Villa. It will be goodbye to a place in the list of the world’s top twenty richest football clubs when the results are announced next year.

All hopes must now be pinned on a successful summer of recruitment, apparently spearheaded by Potter and Kyle Macaulay but unlikely to be free of interference from the self-styled Director of Football in the boardroom, David Sullivan. Our best hope is that their decision making improves significantly from the one that lumbered the club with a loan deal for an unfit (and arguably unmotivated) Evan Ferguson. Even from a distance it looked like a really stupid move that was never going to benefit West Ham.

A lot of work is required to assemble a functioning squad from the spare parts that are currently in place. All the more difficult is a club that lacks any clear strategy on its recruitment aims. It is fanciful to believe the Potter/ Macaulay partnership were instrumental in Brighton’s successful and money-spinning transfer dealings, but perhaps they learned something from the experience. The worst of all worlds is that recruitment activity again focuses solely on existing short-term firefighting issues in the squad at the expense of building for the future. Past performance does not instil a great deal of confidence.

It got to the point on Sunday where I was relived to hear that Chelsea had equalised against Ipswich. And I am not overly confident that we will not allow Southampton to overhaul Derby’s lowest ever Premier League points total this weekend either. How on earth did we get here? COYI!

West Ham Versus Bournemouth: A Bargain Bucket Of Matchday Takeaways

Despite little enthusiasm remaining for West Ham’s season of dismal decline into a bottom six club, here are the random takeaways from a mildly interesting draw with Bournemouth

My Kingdom For A Centre Forward

According to one report I read over the weekend, a cartoon style lightbulb flashed on in the London Stadium boardroom on Saturday when it was suddenly realised that all the Hammer’s current woes could be put down to not having a centre forward. Well, I never! Such valuable insight is outstanding and encoraging. It would otherwise never have occurred to the average supporter who has been bemoaning the shortage of striking options for the past ten years or more. We can now rest easy that having finally uncovered this hidden weakness it will be quickly resolved when Chairman David Sullivan returns to basics by taking back control of the summer transfer dealings. There must be 50 ways to sign a third-rate striker, and Sullivan has given each one of them a go. He will have learned his lesson though, won’t he?

Hello Square Peg, Meet The Round Hole

It’s a shame that the striker revelation hadn’t been uncovered before the team sheets for Saturday’s home game against Bournemouth were handed in. Then highly paid and experienced Premier League manager, Graham Potter would surely have acted very differently when leaving the two centre forwards he did have available on the bench. If only he’d been aware that goals win games, the first half might have turned out very differently. I could almost sense the awful screech of metal sraping on metal as the starting eleven were forcibly squeezed into the semblance of a formation. There was some good news, however, in that whatever that formation was it wasn’t to be the 3/5 at the back that had bored us senseless in the previous run of games. None of the top teams elect to use such a formation as their default setting. It is one designed not to lose rather than win. I pray we see a good deal less of it as the season fizzles out into a disappointing finale and a worthless bottom six finish.

It Was the Worst of Halves, It Was the Best of Halves

Has there been any game this season where West Ham have played well in both halves? Nothing springs to mind, although perhaps a case could be made for Ipswich at home and Newcastle and Arsenal away. Otherwise, the standard operating model has been the slow, unadventurous, low energy start that only perks up after a slew of half-time substitutions. Intriguingly, this has remained a consistent aspect of performances despite the transition of the coach’s baton from Lopetegui to Potter. Why would that be? Poor preparation, poor team selection, poor attitude by the players or a lack of leadership and belief on the pitch? Coming from a tradition where Moyes treated substitutes as a new-fangled development he didn’t really agree with, we now appear to lead the field in half-time changes. A total of 24 replacements made at the break in 14 different games.

A coach or manager calling for greater intensity is really just pointing the finger at himself. It can be excused in a one-off game but certainly not when it happens every week. As anyone with a pair of eyes could see, the whole performance and atmosphere changed on the introduction of Niclas Fullkrug. I hope Potter made a mental note that having a proper spearhead in attack made all the difference in the world. After all, he was probably the only person in the stadium who didn’t think he should have started with one at outset. And great to see West Ham score with two great throwback bullet headers evoking the spirit of Hurst and Peters.

Do You Want Rice with That?

When Declan Rice was sold to Arsenal (and rescuing West Ham’s otherwise dodgy PSR position), the response was to sign a single defensive midfielder as replacement. But Rice offered far more than that. His ability to break/ surge/ carry the ball forward from deep at pace was an invaluable transition option. It was a capability that no member of the current squad possesses and the gap has never been filled – none of Alvarez, Soler, Soucek, JWP, Rodriguez, or Irvine come close, either technically or in speed of movement. So, while the club might give themselves a round of applause for recognising the need for a centre forward, this is an equally pressing deficiency. No amount of tippy tappy, backwards and sideways passing (no matter how high the pass completion rate) is going to bother a well drilled defence who have been given plenty of time to get back into shape. The alternative is to go long (high chance of failure) or move the ball through the lines quickly. A player capable of successful carries not only causes defences to panic but also creates space for others to exploit. Joao Gomes demonstrated this perfectly in our recent game at Wolves. It must be a top recruitment priority in the summer.

The Defence Rests

It is fair to say that the statistics back up Potter’s claim that he has been successful in tightening up the West Ham defence. Goals conceded have reduced from an average of 1.95 per game under Lopetegui to 1.18 under Potter. But it has been achieved by piling more numbers into defence and dropping deeper in the style of a David Moyes tribute act. It is not a tactical or coaching masterstroke. It may be no coincidence that we were back to conceding twice upon the reintroduction of a back four. Unfortunately, there are serious questions at the heart of the defence. Jean Clair Todibo (if he stays) does have the qualities to be a top-class defender but has struggled to string a run of games together due to one fitness issue or another. A warning sign or has he been handled badly? Max Kilman is a bigger worry for me. After a reasonably steady start to the season, his performances have gradually fallen away and looks well short of a player purchased at a cost of £40 million – and committed to a seven-year contract. He just seems to lack the necessary determination, aggression and assertiveness to perform as a Premier League centre back – in much the same way that Nayef Aguerd struggled with the physical aspects of the English game.

Who’s The Joker in the Orange

Years ago, there was a Two Ronnies Mastermind sketch where the specialist subject was ‘Answering the question before last.’ I can only think that referee Tim Robinson was applying a similar concept to his random acts of officiating. Little correlation was apparent between his decisions and the action that had jsut taken place. Not that he favoured one team or the other, although his major contribution to the game’s outcome was penalising (and booking) JWP for being in the vicinity when an opposing player fell over – with Bournemouth equalising from the resulting free-kick. You have to wonder where PGMOL find these guys; and at a time where they believe what the game really needs is even more refereeing judegement. At least Robinson is from West Sussex and not another member of the north-west England cluster. A look at his record shows him as one of the Premier League’s least used refs who rarely gets a look in at any of the rich club games. I wonder why?

Paquetagate: Latest Odds

From the trickle of information leaking from the Paqueta spot-fixing enquiry, it sounds like the FA are failing to present a compelling case that any offence has actually been committed. Just a handful of samba dancing Paqueta islanders betting on the high chance of yet another yellow card for their favourite son. Hopefully this is more than wishful thinking and the Brazilian will be free to either continue his erratic contributions at West Ham, or be sold on at a decent PSR boosting fee. If the case does fall apart, it could have serious implications for the denial of the £85 million transfer that never was, as well as the lucrative contract that would have inevitably come with it. It would be a severe embarrassment for the FA. And for the various talking heads who looked at slow motion replays of the yellow card incidents and concluded he was guilty as hell.

The Quick Bowen Prod Bumps Over The Lazy Fox

West Ham make it back-to-back Premier League wins and clean sheets in what must be a candidate for the most uneventful game of the year. Not even a single yellow card.

It turned out to be a good week for West Ham and Graham Potter as the Hammers followed Saturday’s heroic victory at the Emirates with a stroll past relegation bound Leicester City at the London Stadium. Back-to-back wins and clean sheets are a rarity for the club, even at the best of times.

The two opponents presented very different challenges for the coach, and he elected to face them with an identical setup and personnel. Following a brief period of experimentation and a good look at what is available, Potter may now have settled for the time being on the 3-5-2 formation that has seen his personal points return boosted to ten from seven games.

The principal takeaway from those last two games is that he has settled on a system that plays to the strength of the players involved. An encouraging change following an era of square pegs and round holes. Max Kilman looks more comfortable in a three, the returning Jean-Clair Todibo looks a class act, and even old-man Aaron Cresswell has looked fit and assured. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Oliver Scarles have looked the part and excelled in their respective wingback roles. The midfield three work hard, look compact and have complemented each other despite an underlying absence of pace and guile. Up front, Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus have demonstrated great movement and energy; and are a threat to any defence. It is a setup better suited to counterattacking than breaking down opponents but that’s where we are at moment – until the deficiencies can be addressed in the summer.

The display at Arsenal had been a masterclass in frustrating the hosts with the type of hardworking, low defensive block that we have become to know and love. But unlike late period Moyes it retained the ability to launch rapid counterattacks through the pace and industry of Wan-Bissaka, Bowen and Kudus. With the Hammers defending in numbers and providing outstanding support and backup to each other, the hosts had run out of ideas well before the end. Not even two minutes of added time at the end of eight minutes of added time could produce a worthwhile attempt to alarm Alphonse Areola. If anything, it was the visitors who created to the more clear cut opportunities to add to the goal tally.

In contrast to the lung-busing efforts at the Emirates, last night’s encounter with Leicester was something of a stroll from start to finish. The visitors offered no clues to suggest they were a team fighting for their Premier League lives. They were low on quality, fight and spirit; and look doomed to a quick return to the Championship next season. The Hammers needed only to be competent to earn the three points, knowing that sooner or later the Foxes would gift them a couple of goals.

A kind man might give Cresswell the benefit of the doubt that his was a clinical pinpoint pass to set up the first goal. But it really looked like a shot to me. The move had started with good interplay bewteen by Bowen and Tomas Soucek on the right. Leicester failed to take several opportunities to clear their lines before Cresswell’s shot, the keeper’s save from Kudus, and Soucek arriving on the scene to claim a birthday goal – his sixth of the season.

The second goal just before half-time realistically ended the game as a contest. A mis-hit James Ward-Prowse corner (which should probably not have been given) was bungled by the visitor’s rearguard allowing Bowen to nip in smartly between three defenders – his shot from a tight angle hitting Vestergaard on its way into the net.

The second half was as drab as anything. The inoffensiveness of the match was underlined by the absence of a single yellow card award – a great disappointment for the residents of Paqueta Island. When was the last time that happened? As Potter said after the game this was not champagne football. In the circumstances we must simply take the win and focus on the positives in the knowledge that stability has returned to the playing side of the club. The players look far happier than in the early part of the season, and a sense of structure, organisation and movement has returned to the pitch.

It was surprising that the second half wasn’t seen as an ideal opportunity to take a better look at Luis Guilherme. He looks fully involved and engaged in the training session videos posted regularly by the club, so a bit of a mystery why he wasn’t given a 30-minute run out last night free from any pressure. Surely, it would have added a modicum of interest to the evening’s ‘entertainment’.

Meanwhile, the Evan Ferguson situation continues to bemuse. He looks as rusty as anything and is going to need a lot more time than is available to get up to speed. Without knowing how the situation might eventually pan out, it looks the most peculiar loan arrangement for West Ham.

The Hammers are now in a weird situation where they play just two games in the next 32 days. In all, there are 11 Premier League games left to play – at home to Newcastle, Bournemouth, Southampton, Tottenham, and Nottingham Forest; and away to Everton, Wolves, Liverpool, Brighton, Manchester United and Ipswich. A chance then to improve our league standing although a 4-way battle for 13^th place with Tottenham, Manchester United and Everton might be as good as it gets. At least its in our own hands.

Ironically for the end of February, the Premier League season is effectively done and dusted as far as the major issues are concerned. Liverpool will almost certainly be champions, and it will take a huge turnaround in fortunes if any of Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester are to avoid the drop – none of them is on course to break the 30 point barrier. And what are the odds that Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea finally nab the remaining Champions League spots away from the plucky challengers. A Super Sunday Damp Squib beckons for the end of May.

Next up for West Ham is yet another exile to the Monday night graveyard slot (on March 11) against a Newcastle side who may well have one eye on the EFL Cup Final which takes place on the following Sunday. We can hope for another win – and a little more entertainment, perhaps. COYI!

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Potter

The Hammers are once again utterly beatable as Brentford slice through their defences like a hot knife. Has the chronic West Ham self-harm syndrome spread too widely for a simple cure?

Two brain teasers for you to start the day.

Question 1. If Team B (let’s call them Brentford) are adept at scoring early goals and Team A (West Ham, say) are prone to conceding them, what do you think might happen? Could it be that Team B race into an early lead which they are then easily able to defend?

Question 2. If Team B are known for playing on the front foot, with a high press and fast, direct attacks, how should Team A lineup against them? Would it be by deploying a slow as molasses double pivot and with no discernible attacking creativity or focus? Answers please on a post card.

The early FA Cup elimination had given the Hammers coaching staff just short of two weeks to prepare for Saturday’s game. A set of circumstances that makes their attempts at finding a solution all the more baffling. I would love to have a look at their workings. Even if the Rush Green VHS recorder had been on the blink, it is easy enough to google how Brentford setup to play every week.

Graham Potter still has a healthy balance of goodwill in the bank. He is personable, articulate, prepared to give young players an opportunity – and he is not Julen Lopetegui. Most supporters have been positive about his impact on and off the pitch although much of that is a sense of relief over what had been endured before. While it is still early days, the improvement in optics has yet to manifest itself as better results on the pitch. In fact, the opposite is true as a quick glance at the Under The Hammers New-Gafferometer (league games only) clearly demonstrates.

The Potter reign got off to a spirited, yet rather fortunate winning Premier League start with a victory over Fulham. Since then, the better, more committed, performances have been on the road. The last two home games – London derbys againsy Crystal Palace and Brentford – have been especially disappointing; and for large parts, no better than what had been witnessed earlier in the season. The first half on Saturday could easily have been mistaken for the typical chaotic Lopetegui lineup and performance.

I can’t be the only one who finds the Evan Ferguson situation a little weird. An emergency loan who apparently will need careful handling due to past injuries when there are only 14 games of the season left to play. He did show several decent touches when he came on at half-time and his first significant contribution really should have been an assist for a Mohammed Kudus equaliser had the opportunity not been squandered through a rush of blood to the head. I don’t doubt Ferguson’s potential but a ‘dry’ loan for an injured player is just so West Ham.

The half time change of shape allowed West Ham to dominate the ball for much of the second period. James Ward-Prowse provided the control and direction in a way that the excruciatingly slow Tomas Soucek is never able to. Take away his goal threat and the big Czech is largely anonymous. Yet, not quite as anonymous as Carlos Soler on the left wing who would have been more gainfully employed if given a flag and asked to run the line.

The Brentford goal illustrated perfectly why West Ham have one of the worst defensive records in the league. It all began from a West Ham corner on the right. Emerson went across to take, with the big men coming into the box as targets. The corner came to nothing. Brentford cleared to Damsgaard; Edson Alvarez attempted to close him down, but he was able to play a simple pass to Wissa whose run had not been tracked by Soucek. Even at that point though, West Ham had five players (Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Max Kilman, Dinos Mavropanos, Emerson and Jarrod Bowen) between ball and goal to Brentford’s two (Mbeumo and Schade.)

Wissa’s pass over the top was simple, Wan-Bissaka and Bowen stood and watched, Dinos was slow getting back in position, with Kilman the wrong side of Mbeumo. Emerson’s aerial challenge with Mbeumo was not strong enough leaving Schade unmarked to pick up the loose ball and score at the second attempt. A collective Sunday league failure to deal with a sraightforward counterattack.

The visitors dominated the remainder of the first half and there could have been no complaints had they gone into the break with a two or three goal cushion. The two ‘goals’ were rightly disallowed for offside but at least one of them might have stood had it been scored in the VAR-less FA Cup the previous weekend.

Although, the improved second half performance boosted the numbers for the unimportant statistics (possession, pass accuracy, number of corners) West Ham created few clear goalscoring opportunities. The glaring miss by Kudus and a blocked goal-bound effort from Ollie Scarles being the most notable. Flekken in the Brentford goal – who has been the Premier Leagues most overworked keeper all season – is unlikely to have enjoyed a more comfortable ninety minutes. The Hammers doing nothing to dispel the shot-shy reputation that Potter brings with him from Brighton and Chelsea.

It’s tempting to simply write the season off with a shrug – “we are where we are, and it is what it is” – but that risks throwing away a significant portion of the campaign. It is so very dispiriting. It’s not Potter’s fault that he has inherited a slow, ageing, unbalanced squad but he needs to find a way of at least creating some interest in the final months of the season – a reason to look forward to matchdays – or else it’s all just a waste of time and effort. If the players are incapable of playing the way the coach wants them to, then he needs to find a system that does suit. Surely, there is some way of harnessing the potential attacking talent available. Without that all that’s left is a team that appears to be going through the motions. Defeat we can live with; limp and effortless displays are unacceptable.

Next up is Arsenal. Hopefully, it won’t turn out to be as painful as I fear. COYI!

I’ve Got Those Lost Season and Blank Weekend West Ham Blues

Despite an uplift from the new manager appointment, the low key, lacklustre season will be one that is easily forgotten at West Ham. With little to play for the end of May can’t come soon enough.

So, here we go. Not in the Fabrizio Romano sense of the phrase to announce an imminent incoming transfer; but rather in resigned contemplation of yet another blank weekend of West Ham football. Early cup exits, international breaks and routinely exiled to the graveyard Monday night slot due to the absence of European competition, the Hammers will feature on a maximum of 29 of the season’s 41 weekends. They will play just twice in the whole of March, with those two games – at home to Newcastle and away at Everton – coming just four days apart.

It’s been a good many years now that TV has called all the shots on scheduling with little concern for the inconvenience to the matchday supporters who create the atmosphere for their product. More and more of Saturday afternoons are now 100% football free for the typical Premier club. Free from a lunchtime pint or two in the Central or Boleyn, a burger in a bun (no onions for me, mate) from the sizzling food stand, Percy Dalton’s peanuts (tanner a bag), golden goals ticket, the brass band playing on the half-way line, and half-time scores hung on the alphabetical grid behind the goals (that’s enough misty-eyed nostalgia for now – Ed!)

During the course of this season, West Ham will play a total of just 41 revenue generating games, compared to 53 last term and 57 in 2022/23. Where Aston Villa have already earned an estimated €71m from their Champion’s League group games – and fellow strugglers Manchester United and Tottenham have pocketed €20m+ from the Europa League equivalent – the Hammers are poised to fall ever further behind in the rich league stakes.

And with little left to play for, apart from avoiding the highly remote possibility of being dragged into the relegation dogfight, it promises to be an underwhelming four months until the end of May. Less of a problem when football was an affordable, Saturday afternoon ritual with fellow supporters, friends and family; but less appealing now that we are customers with membership schemes and high ticket prices. As the old Queen might have said as she tucked into a portion of pre-match pie and mash, it has been a ‘seasannus horribilis’ at the London Stadium.

Last Monday’s match at Chelsea reached its inevitable conclusion when the hosts came from behind to claim their customary victory. If you read Richard’s preview you would have been aware how rare West Ham wins have been at Stamford Bridge in the recent past.

The West Ham versus Chelsea rivalry perfectly encapsulates the influence of money in football today. In the Football League, the Hammers statistically held the upper hand. Even in the early days of the Premier League – before the arrival of dirty Russian money in 2003 and the new low bar for football club ownership – the Hammers led the Blues with nine victories to eight. Since then, Chelsea have won 24 of the 38 league encounters. Of West Ham’s seven wins, one was at Stamford Bridge, two at Upton Park, and four at the London Stadium.

The game itself saw another patched up Hammer’s side put in a committed but ultimately fruitless performance. It was reminiscent of the Aston Villa cup game with West Ham’s holding a slender but comfortable lead, but losing the faith once the scores were levelled. Graham Potter gave an honest assessment after the game highlighting the effort, shape and application of his players but accepting they had not done enough with the ball themselves.

There was a welcome return for Jarrod Bowen but injuries to Lucas Paqueta and Edson Alvarez required adjustments to the starting eleven – the underused and undervalued Andy Irving putting in a mature performance for his first league start. While Bowen had made a text-book recovery from his fractured foot, Crysencio Summerville has joined Jean-Clair Todibo in the Rush Green treatment triangle where precautionary substitutions have mysteriously developed week by week into extended long-term injury absences.

Potter’s honeymoon at West Ham continues to hold good despite results not yet picking up. The massive turnaround in attitude and atmosphere since he replaced Lopetegui is clear to all, and we now see a team not resigned to its fate before a ball has been kicked. There have been extenuating circumstances with injuries but at some point, positivity needs to be converted into points. The six Premier League clubs who have sacked their managers since the start of the season comprise six of the bottom seven clubs in the current standings. The bounce isn’t always obvious and here is how they have performed pre and post the change in terms of points per game.

Monday evening also saw the slamming shut of the January transfer window. As usual, very little happened despite the daily speculation peddled on the made-up rumour sites – which have already turned their goldfish like attention to potential summer signings.

I’m in two minds about the straight loan signing of Evan Ferguson. A potentially excellent striker if he can rediscover his fitness and the form of two seasons ago; but without any option to buy, the deal surely favours the player and Brighton more than it does West Ham. If we get him fit and he starts to knock in the goals, then great for time being but bigger clubs with bigger budgets will then be chasing for his signature. If he’s a flop, then it will all have been a waste of time.

Also making a comeback at the London Stadium is James Ward-Prowse following a mostly unsuccessful loan period at Champion’s League chasing Nottingham Forest. No surprise he didn’t get much of a look-in at a team based on rapid transition and fast counterattacking. He joins a pool of older, slower, unadventurous midfield players – but at least he can take a decent corner. And perhaps he will finally equal that Beckham direct free-kick record. Despite any reservations I may have, I wish both players well whenever they turn out in the claret and blue.

The final expected news of the week was the announcement that Tim Stediten has left his role as Technical Director. It is not clear whether any replacement is anticipated or whether the entirety of the role is viewed as a failure. A clear vindication in the eyes of the Board for reverting to the shambolic system of boardroom meddling, agent influence and short-term thinking that has held the club back for the last 15 years. Lasting improvement is impossible until the club addresses its inability to adopt a long-term strategy and direction.

It is fascinating how widely repeated the narrative has spread that West Ham’s current woes are all down to Steidten’s recruitment. Not just from in-the-knows with cosy relationships at the club but also from the supposedly more thoughtful and balanced reporters at the Athletic and Guardian who have given a free pass to the most significant mistake of all – the disastrous appointment of Lopetegui by David Sullivan. The flaw of modern journalism where if you want access to the inside track, you mustn’t say anything bad about the source.

I’ve no idea if Steidten is difficult to work with or not, but he was set up to fail and was clearly not in full control of recruitment. He might have believed he was driving the transfer bus but in reality, he was the kid in the front seat on the upper deck imagining it to be true – until it hit the low bridge of the club’s ambition. The ironic thing about football transfers is that the number of people claiming responsibility is inversely proportional to how badly they work out.

Enjoy your free weekend. COYI!