Graham Potter could find himself out of a job if West Ham lose to Crystal Palace so he must address serious issues and fast.
When Graham Potter won just five of his 19 games in charge last season, West Ham fans gave him an extended period of grace.
He had taken over mid-season, it was not his team and Potter said things would be different when he had a full pre-season and some of his own players in the door.
The 50-year-old has been one of the most hyped up English coaches.
The hope among Hammers fans was that would start to show once Potter had West Ham together for a solid six weeks of uninterrupted training on his philosophy, style and approach.
Potter said West Ham’s owners and fans could judge him this season.
Now that judgement could come sooner than anyone would have liked after a terrible start to the new campaign.
Four defeats from five, 14 goals shipped, in the bottom three of the fledgling table and out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle.
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Five things Potter must change to avoid the sack at West Ham
Potter has been described as a project manager. But time waits for no man and you only build a project on a solid base.
The Hammers boss doesn’t have that either literally or figuratively at the London Stadium.
Six wins from 24 games is relegation form over the course of a season.
The ratio is actually worse this season with West Ham averaging one win in five so far and conceding just under three goals per game.
In the most fiercely competitive Premier League of the last decade, 40 points is likely to be a realistic benchmark for survival.
Potter is under huge pressure at West Ham as the very real threat of relegation looms.
To avoid the sack and keep the Hammers in the Premier League, there are five major things the manager must change right away.
Mads Hermansen during Sunderland v West Ham United - Premier League
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Change the goalkeeper
No West Ham player has been in the spotlight more than £15.5m new signing Mads Hermansen so far this season.
Potter pushed for the Hammers to spend a club record fee for a goalkeeper on Hermansen, who was relegated with Leicester last season.
Many fans and pundits feel Hermansen is too small to be a commanding Premier League goalkeeper.
And given how bad West Ham are at the back, a dominant presence in-between the sticks is vital.
Hermansen’s height has been compared to every Premier League number one and the results were very interesting indeed.
The 25-year-old Dane has become a weakness for the opposition to target, as one Spurs player even admitted after the win over West Ham.
Potter must do Hermansen and himself a favour by taking him out of the firing line until West Ham can steady their ship.
Ridiculous tactic must be ditched
Former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce used to say he relished it when teams used zonal marking against his sides.
Allardyce felt it was a naïve tactic which was easily exposed, especially if you had a questionable goalkeeper.
Potter needs to take that on board because the Hammers are looking so vulnerable every time the opposition gets a corner or set-piece.
West Ham used to be the team others feared when it came to set-plays.
Now they are the whipping boys. Potter already has a collection of centre-backs who can’t – don’t seem to want to – head the ball.
So zonal marking is doomed to failure when you combine that with the fact Hermansen has such little command of his area.
Throw in a general lack of leadership and communication in the team and it’s a recipe for relegation.
The worrying thing is Potter has had all summer to work on it. More concerning still is the fact the manager feels the zonal marking is working and that West Ham defended set-pieces well against Spurs.
That’s despite the clear evidence there in black and white – 32 corners conceded in four games, a new record – and six goals shipped from them – another new record.
If Potter sticks with zonal marking it will cost him his job, especially with David Moyes’ Everton and set-piece masters Arsenal up next after Palace.
West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse looks on from the tunnel
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Hire a specialist set-piece coach
West Ham must be one of the only teams in the Premier League without their own specialist set-piece coach.
While it won’t be a surprise to Hammers fans that their club, which has used mobile huts at its training ground for the last 50 years, is behind the times, this season has highlighted the serious need to get with the times.
Potter brought in Narcís Pèlach as one of his assistant coaches when he arrived at West Ham.
Pelach failed as Stoke manager and admitted in an interview last month that he is in charge of the Hammers’ set-plays.
“My main role is set-pieces now,” Pelach told West Ham’s website.
“I’m looking after the set plays to make sure that the team is organised offensively and defensively in corners, wide free kicks, throw-ins and all this kind of stuff.”
Clearly West Ham’s players need to look themselves in the mirror, especially some of the defenders, and actually show more courage, passion and bravery in defending and attacking set plays.
But it is clear Pelach is not doing a very good job.
Potter needs to go out and find a specialist set-piece coach who can reinvent that side of the team’s game at both ends of the pitch.
It says everything that West Ham have a dead ball specialist like James Ward-Prowse but rarely making anything of his deliveries.
End the obsession with the crab Ward-Prowse
On the subject of Ward-Prowse, Potter’s obsession with picking the slow, sideways passing crab must end.
Potter elected to bring Ward-Prowse back early from his disastrous loan at Forest in January and he has been one of the first names on the teamsheet ever since.
By all accounts Ward-Prowse is a great pro and teammate.
But there have always been question marks over what he offers in open play and now he’s stopped delivering the goods from set-plays too.
Potter needed another midfielder in the summer to perform a complete overhaul.
That being said, there are young players like Freddie Potts, Preston Fearon and even French powerhouse Mohamadou Kante who would offer more than Ward-Prowse.
With Soungoutou Magassa’s cameo one of the few highlights from West Ham’s defeat to Spurs, Potter must bring him into the team alongside Mateus Fernandes and Lucas Paqueta in the long-term.
Maybe if West Ham hire a specialist set-piece coach then it can help save Ward-Prowse’s Hammers career. Until then he must come out of the team.
Stick to four at the back and attack
Hiring a modern, forward-thinking manager was the desire of West Ham fans when Moyes departed.
Potter was billed as that man after the failed Julen Lopetegui experiment.
But eight months into his reign, West Ham fans are still scratching their heads as to what Potter’s identity and style is.
There are patterns of play but they’re not particularly innovative or effective.
Potter keeps switching between four at the back and three at the back with wingbacks.
Some games he presses, others he sits off.
Yes you have to adapt your tactics based on the opposition you’re up against.
But the tinkering needs to stop for the good of the team, who need a run of games to actually get used to a system.
It was there for all to see against Spurs and the fact Potter did not play a striker against their fiercest rivals has not gone down well at all with supporters.
Potter needs to stick to four at the back and play a more attacking, front-footed and aggressive style.
If you have a striker available, play him for goodness sake. Look how many brilliant crosses El Hadji Malick Diouf sent over against Spurs that were begging to be put away only for Callum Wilson and Niclas Fullkrug to be twiddling their thumbs on the bench.
The sitting off doesn’t work because defensively West Ham aren’t good enough to soak up attacks like previous teams under Moyes were.
You can get away with it to a degree away from home. But if Potter wants to connect with the home fans – as he has said repeatedly – then having a proper go is the best way to do it.
What he has tried so far certainly isn’t working because the Hammers have only won two home games under him in eight months – against Leicester and Fulham.
Everyone thinks they could be a manager.
But the fact most fans would agree these changes are a necessity suggests Potter needs to wake up, smell the very real threat of relegation and do something about it.
Or it will be another manager’s problem to solve very soon.
West Ham boss Graham Potter looks dejected during the defeat to Tottenham
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West Ham majority owner David Sullivan spotted ringside at a boxing event
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Soungoutou Magassa during West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League
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