Nuno Espirito Santo’s Freddie Potts experiment lasted only 45 minutes during West Ham United’s feeble 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa in the final Premier League match before the international break.
Of course, if Nuno had more than a few minutes to re-jig his line-up, he might have come up with a better plan.
In an act of desperation, Potts was thrown in for Jean-Clair Todibo after the Frenchman picked up an injury in the warm-up. That the Barking-born midfielder was brought on instead of another centre-half in Max Kilman tells its own story – a summer exit feels inevitable for Kilman now, if it didn’t already – but Freddie Potts’ brief return to the West Ham United XI has sparked much debate post-match.
Be honest – is Freddie Potts good enough to start? 🤔
Potts struggled against Aston Villa…
Freddie Potts of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Some Hammers fans felt Mohamadou Kante would have been a better choice, up against a powerful, athletic Aston Villa midfield who outnumbered their visitors throughout.
In a poll of Hammers News’ TalkingPoint users, 77 per cent felt that Potts is not yet ready to start Premier League games.
Few were making such a judgement a few months ago, though, when Potts’ long-awaited promotion to the XI coincided with West Ham winning successive matches against Newcastle and Burnley.
Freddie Potts struggled as West Ham United lost at Aston Villa
The youngster is going through the most difficult spell of his young claret and blue career. Potts has started only two of the last eleven Premier League matches, partly due to the red card he picked up against Burton Albion in the FA Cup.
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But a few testing weeks for a young man who only made his debut in August is, in all honestly, was something we all should have seen coming. It is just the way with young players making their way in the game.
Furthermore, it’s not as if Potts expected to feature in the XI even an hour before kick off at Villa Park; chucked in last minute against a team fighting for a Champions League spot.
Freddie Potts leaves the field after getting a red card for West Ham United against Burton Albion.
Photo by Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
And perhaps the issue is not with Potts himself, but with the role bestowed upon him by Nuno Espirito Santo.
During 45 minutes in the Midlands, Potts appeared to be tasked with sitting at the base of West Ham’s midfield, dropping in between the centre-halves in possession, while restricting space for Villa dangerman Morgan Rogers.
That, though, is a challenge far more experienced midfielders have failed this term. Rogers has arguably been the second-best number ten in the division this term, behind Bruno Fernandes.
Moreover, Potts’ best performances in a Hammers shirt – those successive victories Newcastle and Burnley – came when he was playing as a shuttling, box-to-box number eight in a two-man midfield. At Villa Park, he often played as the deepest of a central trio, behind Tomas Soucek and Mateus Fernandes.
Potts admitted the ‘number eight’ is his favourite role
Potts excelled in a double pivot. He was given the freedom to press the opposition midfielders and, in possession, kept things simple yet effective.
Potts is arguably not someone who can screen an entire back four, especially up against a customer as slippery as Rogers. If Nuno had started Soungoutou Magassa deeper, allowing Potts to snap away at the heels of John McGinn, Ross Barkley and Amadou Onana, perhaps he’d have had a very different afternoon.
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Nuno Espirito Santo, manager of West Ham United, looks on during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and West Ham United at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on March 22, 2026. Sweden's coach Graham Potter arrives on the pitch prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 European qualification Group B football match between Sweden and Slovenia, in Solna on November 18, 2025.
In that all-action number eight role against Newcastle, up against two of the finest technicians around in Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali, Potts delivered a fine, all-around midfield performance.
Three tackles, six clearances, as well as two key passes.
Against Villa, he managed zero tackles, two clearances, and one key pass.
From 57 touches and 39 passes against Newcastle to 28 touches and 24 passes versus Villa.
“He played really good,” Nuno said after that 3-1 triumph over the Magpies. “I think he did a fantastic match. He was balanced. Almost all his actions were accurate, and I think he did what the team need at that moment.”
Former Hammers boss Alan Pardew was reminded of a young Declan Rice that day. In his early days at the London Stadium, Rice would carve out a role for himself as a jack-of-all-trades rather than a deep-lying midfield ‘master’.
While Potts may never come close to reaching the same heights, the contrast between his coming-of-age performance against Newcastle and that first-half at Villa Park should make it clear to Nuno where he, too, is at his most effective.
“I want to try and get forward and be that box-to-box midfielder,” Potts told Sky Sports during his loan spell at Portsmouth last season, confirming that he sees himself more as a ‘six’ than an ‘eight’.
“[In that role] I can influence both sides of the game. Going forward, I want to add more goals to my game and really show people that I’m not just a defensive midfielder.
“I want to go forward, I want to create goals, I want to score goals. I feel like that’s something I can do and I can show it in training. I want to show people I’ve got both sides to my game.
“[The number eight position] is where I see myself; a box-to-box midfielder.”
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