If there is one piece of credit Tony Cottee can give the West Ham United board – and it’s good news for Graham Potter, certainly – it’s that David Sullivan and Karren Brady do not make a habit of panicking.
Now, this is not always a good thing.
Tony Cottee remembers the disastrous Avram Grant season of 2010/11. Despite winning only one of their first 14 Premier League matches of that campaign, West Ham United kept faith with the former Chelsea boss. Their ‘reward’ for such patience was a bottom-of-the-table finish and a season in the Championship under Sam Allardyce.
Now, vice-chair Karren Brady spoke out in support of Potter after the opening day defeat by Sunderland. But one month later, and with further heavy defeats coming against Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, that patience is likely to be tested.
Cottee was again left peeking through his fingers as Tottenham cruised to a 3-0 win over West Ham on Saturday evening. The one positive, he feels, is that Graham Potter has a more ‘winnable’ group of fixtures to come.
Then again, West Ham may have described that trip to newly-promoted Sunderland as ‘winnable’ too. Ditto the Carabao Cup clash with Wolves, and this weekend’s London derby against a Tottenham side who were brutally outclassed by Bournemouth seven days previously.
Tony Cottee speaks on Graham Potter’s future after West Ham United lose to Tottenham
Speaking following a fourth defeat in five across all competitions, Graham Potter bemoaned seeing a ‘decent first-half’ give way to an error-prone second.
And while Tomas Soucek’s red card was certainly a turning point, the Hammers had already given Spurs a lead by that point. Pape Sarr became the sixth player to score from a set-piece against Potter’s side this season already.
“I think the first-half was pretty even. The Sunderland game was the same,” Cottee tells talkSPORT. “West Ham controlled the game [although they] didn’t look like scoring too much. They had one Lucas Paqueta chance but that was about it. There wasn’t really much going on in the game.
“I was supping my half-time pint, went out to watch the second-half, and I missed the goal!
“I don’t know whether its a concentration thing or whatever. I think players lose focus [at half-time]. West Ham have been guilty of doing that. Then, the sending off makes it an uphill battle.
“Positives, I’m struggling to find one. The home form has been so poor. Really, really poor.”
Potter will be without Soucek during home clashes against Crystal Palace and Arsenal, plus an away trip to David Moyes’ Everton. Cottee predicts the West Ham board will keep the under-fire head coach in place, however, until the November international break.
“Maybe they might play with more freedom away from home, but Everton is so tough. I honestly believe… listen, I’ve been very critical of the board, but one thing they don’t do is panic,” Cottee adds. “They don’t get rid of managers.
“I don’t think they will panic. A little bit further, you’ve got games against Brentford, Burnley and Leeds before the [November] international break. With all due respect to West Ham this year, rather than beating all the glamour teams, you’ve got to beat the Brentfords, Burnleys and Leeds. The teams around you.”
Potter impressed by Soungoutou Magassa and Malick Diouf against Spurs
While Cottee felt positives were few and far between, there were a handful of individual performances which Potter watched with a great deal of satisfaction against Thomas Frank’s team.
Soungoutou Magassa impressed the Hammers fans off the bench, while El Hadji Malick Diouf and Crysencio Summerville showed signs of a genuinely fearsome partnership down the left.
“I thought [the forwards] were supported well with Kyle Walker-Peters on the right, and supported well with Malick Diouf on the left,” Potter tells the club’s official website.
“Mateus [Fernandes] was good, coming back from international duty was not easy for him. It was Cry’s first start and there’s positives there that Malik was really good, that Soungou did well in difficult circumstances when he came on.
“Kyle, I thought played well, so there were individuals that were there. But it’s difficult to say that because the scoreline is what it is and we’re all hurting from that.”
