Likened to Mark Noble and Declan Rice, hailed by West Ham United academy graduate Michael Carrick, as full Premier League debuts go, Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Newcastle was a special one indeed for young Freddie Potts.
The Hammers have a proud tradition of developing technical-yet-tenacious midfield talents with skillsets broader than the Thames itself.
Michael Carrick won the FA Youth Cup with West Ham United, and went on to conquer the continent with Manchester United. Mark Noble rose through the ranks to captain his beloved Hammers. Ditto Declan Rice, now one of the first names on the team sheet with England and an Arsenal side for whom the title looks theirs to lose, even at this still early stage of the season.
That is without mentioning the likes of Frank Lampard. Or, indeed, Josh Cullen. The Burnley captain started at West Ham himself, and is now on his way to becoming an established performer at the elite level ahead of his return to East London next weekend.
Now, whether Freddie Potts goes on to emulate Rice or is instead forced to leave in search of opportunities elsewhere a la Cullen – or whether he lands somewhere in between – only time will tell.
But after Potts marked his first Premier League start with a Man of the Match award, and very nearly a goal too, there was one moment 25 minutes in against Newcastle which summed up the benefits he brings to Nuno’s team sheet and the heart of his midfield.
Dan Burn played the ball into Sandro Tonali, the Italian international having drifted in between Lucas Paqueta and Mateus Fernandes. As he received possession, Tonali presumably planned to turn and set Newcastle away with one of the fizzing forward passes which have become his trademark.
Instead, as the £60 million signing from AC Milan rotated his hips, he was greeted by the sight of Freddie Potts charging into him. Clearly caught off guard and then knocked off balance, what could have been a dangerous Newcastle attack rapidly turned into a West Ham break.
Around 12 seconds after Potts snatched back possession inside the Magpies’ own half – following some good work from Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson – Paqueta clipped the crossbar via a deflection.
With Tomas Soucek and Andy Irving starting together against Brentford and Leeds, West Ham’s midfield resembled room temperature Lurpak. Sliced into with effortless ease. A proverbial knife through butter.
See, for instance, when Leeds’ Brendan Aaronson breezed past Soucek and Irving, carrying the ball from the centre circle to the edge of the Hammers box before hitting the woodwork.
Now, belatedly, Nuno has a midfielder with both the intention and the ability to engage opponents high up the pitch, force turnovers and disrupt their rhythm.
Michael Carrick and Stuart Pearce rave about ‘new Declan Rice’
The legendary Paul Scholes called Tonali the best midfielder in the Premier League leading up to Sunday’s clash. Now, even the Newcastle fans admitted that Potts emerged victorious up against their £60 million maestro, the brutal Joelinton and the masterful Bruno Guimaraes.
Not bad for a first Premier League start.
“[Potts] was a massive plus for West Ham,” Carrick, one the finest playmakers of his generation, said on Match of the Day. “The biggest thing for me was how he just fit in and played his position with real understanding.”
Alan Pardew saw shades of Mark Noble in Potts, while Stuart Pearce wonders if another Declan Rice is on the way.
“Freddie Potts came in and played extremely well,” Pearce, who coached Rice at West Ham, tells Premier League Productions.
“I’m proud of him. Knowing his dad [coach Steve Potts] and working with the young man himself, a smashing young lad, maybe they’ve found someone there who is the new Declan Rice at West Ham.”
Mateus Fernandes and Freddie Potts may be the ideal partnership
Despite starting only one game compared to Soucek’s five, Potts has completed more than twice as many tackles in the ‘middle third’ of the pitch, per Fbref. With him at the base of the engine room, that should allow the more attack-minded Paqueta, Fernandes and – of course – Soucek to perform the duties they prefer.
Not only that, arguably none of Nuno’s other options for the ‘number six’ role can rival Potts when it comes to increasing the tempo or breaking the lines with those sharp, scalpel-like passes from deep.
“The idea was to try and control the middle against Newcastle because they have Bruno, they have Joelinton, they have some quality players,” Nuno said.
The West Ham boss had ‘lost the plot’ in the eyes of some supporters when starting Soucek and Irving ahead of Potts and Fernandes against Brentford and Leeds. He could hardly have been given a more resounding message about exactly who should be at the heart of his team from here on in.
“If you allow them to play free, they’re going to put you against the road. So realising that you had to work very hard was good, and the young guys [Fernandes and Potts] did it,” Nuno added.
“It was important to see that we were suffering but not conceding.
We were being resilient without the ball, realising that if we are organised it’s hard to beat us. So it’s a small step in the way we had to improve.”
