[_**West Ham v Chelsea, tonight, 8.00pm**_](https://www.claretandhugh.info/west-ham-vs-chelsea-preview-team-news-and-predicted-line-ups/)
West Ham United spent last season at the top of one league- however being in possession of the oldest squad in the Premier League is hardly cause for celebration. Graham Potter inherited a creaking side which his predecessors Moyes and Lopetegui had done little to improve by adding the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Guido Rodriguez and Niclas Fullkrug. Two on huge transfer fees, all three on big wages.
Finally Potter appears to have worked out and recognised publicly what every West Ham fan has been moaning about for a couple of seasons: The strategy of recruiting old, past their prime players backfires spectacularly both in terms of PSR and on-pitch performance.
It doesn’t mean there’s a magic wand to fix things though. Frank talking may expose and admit the flaws, changing course is a little like trying to turn a supertanker before it hits the rocks. As per [Jacob Steinberg](https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/graham-potter-no-doubt-ability-213017305.html) in the Guardian last night:
_“We need a few silver bullets, not just one_,” said Potter in a frank admission of the Hammers predicament.
_“It doesn’t mean to say that the team’s going to improve. It doesn’t mean to say that in six months’ time you’re stuck with a player that’s on too much money, that’s too old and you can’t sell them. It would be nice to have £200m to spend but that’s not the case. I have to work with what I have responsibly.”_
Which almost sounds like resignation that, whilst West Ham are desperate for those ‘_magic bullets’_, Potter knows he isn’t getting what his team needs this side of the end of the window.
Which is a scary, scary thought. Whether minds will be further focused after a much-expected drubbing at the hands of Chelsea tonight – who knows. But it feels like fans are witnesses to a very slowly unravelling train wreck to which we can only be helpless bystanders as the whole thing inevitably unravels.