Pat Nevin felt Graham Potter was likely to be ‘fuming’ about the goal which put Premier League returnees Sunderland in front during Saturday’s 3-0 thrashing of West Ham United.
The former Chelsea, Everton and Scotland forward had a point, it seems, with the Hammers’ beleaguered head coach threatening to break his usually calm visage in a bitter post-match autopsy.
Sunderland cruised past a dismal West Ham, thanks largely to a staggering second-half collapse from their visitors.
The aforementioned Pat Nevin laid the blame at the feet of Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Nayef Aguerd as Eliezer Mayenda rose highest to plant a looping cross into the back of Mads Hermansen’s net.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Clinton Morrison went as far as to label West Ham United’s defensive trio ‘non-existent’. That would also be a fitting description of the marking – or a total lack thereof – when Dan Ballard doubled Sunderland’s advantage with 73 minutes on the clock.
Wilson Isidor’s stoppage time clincher, debutant Hermansen failing to save a very ‘saveable’ effort from distance, proved to be the final nail in the Hammers’ coffin.
Mads Hermansen, Max Kilman and Lucas Paqueta react after Sunderland v West Ham United - Premier League
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Graham Potter aims fury at West Ham United defence after Eliezer Mayenda opener for Sunderland
To make that dramatic implosion even more baffling, West Ham looked the far more dangerous of the two sides until the interval.
While Habib Diarra excelled in Sunderland’s midfield and forced Hermansen into a fine early save, El Hadji Malick Diouf saw a goalbound effort cleared away heroically at the other.
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
A turning point, Potter argues, but there can be no excusing what happened thereafter.
“I was happy with our performance in the first-half. We did a lot of things well, unlucky not to score. We quietened the crowd, felt in control of large parts of the game,” Potter sighs. “And then, in the second-half, a bit stop start, then the goal comes from not too much.
“An action we have to do better with. The cross has come from too far and it’s a free header.”
Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Nayef Aguerd cannot stop Black Cats charge
Sunderland’s second was even more egregious. The man closest to putting in any sort of challenge on the soaring, 6ft 3ins Ballard was none other than Lucas Paqueta.
Despite the presence of three sizeable central defenders – three central defenders who cost a combined £106 million – none were on hand against the Black Cats’ greatest aerial threat.
“Obviously, at this ground, those margins, that little lift you give the home team, it was too big for us.
We tried to respond and conceded another cheap one,” adds Potter, already under considerable pressure.
“Then, when you’re pushing, it ends up in an uncomfortable afternoon for us. Second-half, we have to look [at what went wrong] and improve.
“The goal changed the game. We need to do better, it’s as simple as that.
“As I said, the cross has come from a long way. It’s not fantastic build up or anything like that, it’s just a ball in the box that we have to do better with. Then, you’re 1-0 down and the game becomes a lot more difficult. It was a tight game, the first goal is always more important and we weren’t able to get ourselves back in.”
Suddenly, West Ham are already at risk of heading into Friday’s clash with London rivals Chelsea needing an early-season pick-me-up.
“We played a decent away performance in the first half but it’s not too much of a comfort at the moment because the second-half wasn’t good enough,” says a man who spent a brief and unhappy six-month spell at Stamford Bridge in 2022/23.
“We need to understand what happened. It was a fine margins game but the scoreline reflects poorly on us. It was the basics of football. Defending your box, being better in those situations.
“In between that, certainly in the first half, we were good.”