For Tony Gale, West Ham United’s collapse at home to Chelsea was made even worse when watching Fulham fight back to claim a draw against Manchester United just two days later.
While one London outfit fell to pieces – Chelsea scored five goals in just 43 minutes at the London Stadium as Mads Hermansen’s nightmare start continued and Aaron Wan-Bissaka let those old mistakes creep back in – Fulham displayed all the intensity, the desire and the so-called ‘bouncebackability’ missing from Graham Potter’s charges.
Unsurprisingly, Tony Gale is not the first West Ham United legend to demand a host of new arrivals between now and deadline day.
After Tony Cottee urged West Ham to upgrade James Ward-Prowse, Guido Rodriguez and Tomas Soucek in the centre of the park, Gale agrees that a bit of energy is a must in midfield.
But Gale could not help but look at Fulham’s potential game-changers on the substitute’s bench and wish another of his old employers had such options, Adama Traore epitomising the difference between Marco Silva’s roster and Graham Potter’s.
Tony Gale during Portsmouth v West Ham United
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Tony Gale thinks West Ham United need a gamechanger like Fulham’s Adama Traore
With Chelsea already 3-1 by half-time, Potter introduced young Freddie Potts for his Premier League debut, while experienced freebies Kyle Walker-Peters and Callum Wilson also entered the fray.
Among the unused subs were Andy Irving, Callum Marshall and spare centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Fulham, in contrast, had the luxury of leaving the human cannonball Adama Traore twiddling his thumbs while Antonee Robinson, Harry Wilson, Raul Jimenez and Emile Smith Rowe – the man who cancelled out Rodrigo Muniz’s own goal – coming on instead.
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“After Friday, very worried. I was at West Ham on Friday, I went to Fulham on Sunday, and the difference between the teams at the moment is immeasurable,” Gale tells talkSPORT.
“Just looking at it and the way that they just crumbled. They just crumbled in the end.
“You had a look [at Fulham’s squad] and there were options. Players that didn’t come on like Traore, who could turn the game around for Fulham and someone like West Ham could do with someone like that, with the pace and the power that he’s got.”
Fulham v Newcastle United - Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round
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Gale concerned by West Ham’s Chelsea collapse as he demands new signings
Gale does feel that the return of Crysencio Summerville should give Potter the sort of speed and unpredictability he is crying out for, at least. Summerville is close to making his West Ham comeback after seven months out with a hamstring injury.
The £30 million signing from Leeds United was spotted at Rush Green ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Wolves.
But Summerville alone will not fix West Ham’s damaging tendency to implode at the first sign of pressure. Before conceding five goals in 43 minutes against Chelsea, they conceded three in 31 against Sunderland.
“You thought, ‘well, where’s this come from’? Because it was such a great start,” sighs Gale, he and everyone else at the London Stadium feeling that Lucas Paqueta’s seventh minute opener may have been a lift-off moment.
“What I couldn’t understand is when you start like that, you’ve nicked possession of the opposition, you’ve scored a goal, then they just retreated back into a shape where it allowed their centre-backs just to to walk the ball to the halfway line.
“And I thought, ‘I know what’s coming’.
“Probably only one who’s injured at the moment is Summerville, which would probably make a difference. A little bit of pace. And I think, in the coming days, five or six days before the deadline, they’ve got to make three signings.
“They’ve got to get some legs in that midfield, get a bit of pace and energy. And basically, they have got to man up. Everybody is having a go at Graham Potter, but the centre-backs, the three centre-backs, conceding goals at corners, headers at Sunderland, it’s too easy.
“Too easy.”