Graham Potter’s press conference included a significant defence of his on-loan forward Evan Ferguson, who has returned from the international break with a ‘start’ and a goal for Ireland and must be in high spirits.
Potter defends Ferguson but most of the criticism was over his lack of selection, not about the player himself!
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I’m not sure that I have read much criticism of the player himself, but Potter was at great pains to defend the young forward. As picked up by many, including the independent.ie, Potter spoke at length about Ferguson:
“He’s been good in training and yeah he’s come back in a good place. He’s always been ready to help the team and settled in well with the group.”
“From our perspective that (criticism) is unfair to be honest. You have to see the context of where he was in terms of the minutes he’s played previously and how he was on his return from injury.”
“We got him at the really early stages of the return-to-play stage, so to think you can just walk into a Premier League team and hit the ground running and play, that is difficult but he’s come on, he’s helped us and the last four matches we’ve picked up seven points.”
Clearly, however much Ferguson was sold’ to the Claret and Blue fans (who were, and still are, desperate for somebody to enjoy watching as a lively goal threat) as ready to hit the ground running – Evan Ferguson was nowhere near match fit.
The ‘criticism’ that Potter referred to was never aimed at Ferguson.
When a West Ham spokesman told Claret and Hugh that “Ferguson was not injured, [just] not selected” before he appeared as a 90th minute substitute against Everton mid March, the criticism wasn’t intended for the young striker-more so aimed at the Hammers head coach who set his side up without a striker when he’d spent months carefully rehabbing and preparing Ferguson for that very role.
That’s what frustrates and is beginning to bore Hammers fans.
So let’s be clear, from Everton onwards and for Tuesday’s fixture, Ferguson kicks his heels on the bench because Potter doesn’t want to play him, not because he’s injured.