Sunderland won 3-0 on their return to the Premier League
Sunderland ran out comfortable winners on their Premier League return against West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.
Here’s everything West Ham United boss Graham Potter had to say in his post-match press conference....
On the performance against Sunderland...
I think a game of two halves from our perspective, too much. I thought first half we did a good job in terms of quieting the crowd, in terms of trying to control the game, create some opportunities. From an away performance perspective, I was quite satisfied at half-time. The second half started a bit slow, there was an injury, but we weren't too much in danger. The goals come from across from 30 metres into the box and we're 1-0 down and then it's a poor goal from our perspective. We tried to get back into the game, had a little reaction, but then we conceded a second, which was a cheap one from our point of view, a second phase of a set piece. The basics of football we didn't do well enough in the second half. If you don't do that well enough, especially in an environment like this, the first goal is obviously going to give everybody a huge lift. Then we have a disappointing afternoon.
On not defending two crosses into the box...
Absolutely, yeah. It's not Niall Quinn playing, with the greatest of respect, so we're disappointed with that. We have to deal with those situations. Again, that's basics. It's not like we were cut open and pushed back for periods of time, it wasn't like that. It was just balls in a box that we didn't do well enough with.
On what went wrong in the second half...
Well, I think the game always starts again in the second half differently. Like I said, it wasn't a flow to the game initially. It wasn't too much happening in the game. I think their centre-back got injured, there was a bit of time going on there for that, but we didn't get into the rhythm at all of our game. I thought we started a little bit too passive when we had the ball. I thought we could have been braver and more assertive and played better. We didn't play at the level I think that we could play at. It wasn't a result of, again, with the greatest respect, Sunderland pushing us back and playing well. It wasn't that. It was an action. It's a cross from 30-40 metres which we should be happy to defend. Before you know it, you're 1-0 down here at the Stadium of Light and they've waited eight years. Of course, it's going to be difficult. The second goal isn't a particularly good one from our perspective either. As I said earlier, if you don't do the basics in football, you're in trouble anywhere. We've paid that price today.
On whether this season will be a struggle after this result...
Well, I'd say that you have to analyse the game. There's a lot for us to learn from. There's a lot for us to improve. The fine lines, I don't think were with us today, but we have to learn the lesson, like I said, that if you don't do the basics well in football, then it's difficult to win matches. We haven't done them well enough today and we have to make sure that we improve that.
On the dressing room reaction to the result...
The lads are angry, they're disappointed, they're frustrated. You can imagine, we feel like we've had a good pre-season. The boys are hurting. They wanted to win. Of course they wanted to play well. I can feel that pain. So, it's about making sure we stick together. It's making sure that we respond. It's making sure that we learn and making sure that we move forward.
On whether better is to come...
Like I said, the first half... the result is the result and we have to accept that. I think the game itself was one of fine lines. I think Sunderland's chances to score three goals, it wasn't that type of game. It's just [clicks fingers], it can happen. Especially in this type of environment. We have to look at ourselves and what we need to do better. As I've said, I'm repeating, but the basics, we need to do better. And then when we're playing well, we need to try and push that forward as well.
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