Graham Potter has absolved himself of any blame for West Ham’s boring, lifeless performances under him, saying it’s Julen Lopetegui’s fault.
Any semblance of a honeymoon period for Graham Potter is over after West Ham’s defeat to Newcastle.
Leicester City stunk the London Stadium out with dull as dishwater, defensive tactics in West Ham’s last game.
But the approach from the Hammers against Newcastle was not too dissimilar.
Newcastle arrived in east London missing several key players.
Not to mention the fact Eddie Howe’s side had the major distraction of the Carabao Cup final looming large.
Yet West Ham, with absolutely nothing to lose and all the pressure on the visitors, put in a tepid performance that saw boos ring out at full-time.
The atmosphere in the London Stadium reflected the approach and performance from the Hammers.
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Not for the first time already under Potter either.
Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Potter blames Lopetegui for West Ham’s boring, lifeless displays
West Ham fans have been far from impressed with some of the displays of the team under the new manager.
Even at Arsenal, supporters criticised how the Hammer sat off and played deep when the Gunners went down to 10 men.
Against Leicester, there was a severe lack of guile or invention as West Ham passed sideways and backwards ad nauseum.
It was more of the same against the Magpies. And if West Ham were any deeper at times, they would have been on their goal line.
It is fair to say Potter’s start has been lukewarm.
West Ham were never going to be an overnight fix for any manager.
And so it is proving.
Now Potter has blamed Julen Lopetegui for West Ham’s boring, lifeless displays.
A statistic has emerged after the Newcastle defeat that the Hammers have had less shots on goal than any other club in the Premier League since Potter took charge.
But the former Brighton boss has made it clear it’s because of his predecessor.
Potter says he and his staff have had to focus so much on sorting out the defensive mess Lopetegui left behind that the team isn’t yet playing how he wants going forward.
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Potter says sorting Lopetegui’s defensive mess has been priority
“I don’t think we did enough to win it, but it was a tight game that ebbed and flowed,” Potter told talkSPORT after the game.
“Obviously at 0-0 to concede the goal in that manner was disappointing from our perspective because we felt there was a clear push on Max (Kilman) and we’re just surprised that the VAR didn’t see that. But it is what it is, we have to deal with it.
“We didn’t do enough ourselves to win the game.
“We didn’t play more or do more with the ball. But it’s a work in progress and the players gave everything in a really committed performance…
“I thought we defended really well against a team that doesn’t make it very easy for you to create chances. They’ve got such physicality and they’re man-focused.
“I’ve just said that (we didn’t create enough chances to win the game).
“(The reason for that) it is multiple things. Sometimes it is the opponent you play – we played against a good team, who defend well – we had our moments.
‘West Ham had conceded 40 goals in 20 games when we came’
“We didn’t have enough with the ball to be able to build ourselves… We have to keep working on that.
“I think we’ve been really positive with what we’ve found here.
“If you look when we first came the team was conceding a lot of goals (under Lopetegui) – it was 40 goals I think in 20 matches.
“So when you have that it’s hard to have any stability. It’s hard because you need to score two to get a point.
“So we’ve tried to address that and I think we have – a couple of clean sheets and we defended really well today, so there’s foundations there for us to improve. But clearly we do have to improve as well.
“The table is what it is, you can see there’s work that needs to be done. We have to do that.
“We’ve missed some players and they’re coming back…
“Th performance was not really how we want it but it was spirited, committed and lots of endeavour so that at least gives us something to build on.”