As Graham Potter became the new head coach of West Ham United, he faces the daunting task of turning around the club's fortunes.
With injuries plaguing the squad, Potter's tactical flexibility and progressive style will be tested. Fans are hopeful that his track record of success at Brighton will translate to West Ham, but only time will tell if he can lead the Hammers back to their winning ways.
With injuries plaguing the squad, Potter's tactical flexibility and progressive style will be tested. Fans are hopeful that his track record of success at Brighton will translate to West Ham, but only time will tell if he can lead the Hammers back to their winning ways.
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00:00And it just felt like there wasn't any identity.
00:05Now, under David Moyes, we had an identity
00:07and it was an identity that we didn't really,
00:09we no longer wanted.
00:10We were happy for it.
00:11For a while, we were happy to be known as the team
00:14that were very defensive and very conservative
00:16and 10 men beyond the ball
00:18and beat teams on the counter attack.
00:20And it worked for a period of time.
00:21We wanted a more attractive identity.
00:24And we went from that
00:26to then not having any identity at all.
00:29So it was a frustrating start to the season.
00:31Given the expectations at West Ham,
00:33especially amongst the fan base,
00:34it's so much different now
00:35after what David Moyes achieved.
00:38It needed a manager to come in and really, you know,
00:41grab the ball by the horns and really take the club
00:44where the fans and where the club really feel
00:46as it should be.
00:47Not challenging the top four
00:49or winning European trophies every season,
00:52but challenging in the top half of the table
00:55at the very least.
00:56And Lopetegui, we just lost that under him, really.
01:00It was a very frustrating start to the season.
01:03Yeah, and then obviously Graham Potter comes in,
01:05as you say, a change that probably could have been made
01:08a bit earlier than it was.
01:10You know, he's ready for his second,
01:12you know, well, third shot in the Premier League
01:14in the top flight with another club.
01:17I mean, you sort of have to maybe think back
01:21to his Brighton days rather than his Chelsea spell.
01:23Obviously there was so much going on
01:25with the turmoil of the, you know, the amount of players,
01:27how he said he struggled to even get a training session on
01:30with 40 sort of senior players.
01:33There was a lot going on there.
01:34So you can't really judge him too much
01:36on the Chelsea job, I don't think.
01:38What are West Ham fans feeling?
01:40You know, what's his sort of biggest changes so far
01:43and the biggest challenges that he faced
01:45coming into West Ham after,
01:48obviously, the disappointment of Lopetegui?
01:51Well, first and foremost,
01:52after four games of Gran Potter being in charge,
01:55we've got an identity.
01:57Now, it's not the identity that we're going to have
01:59in a year's time under Gran Potter,
02:01but he's come in and we've got roles,
02:04responsibilities for the players.
02:05It's very clear tactics against Aston Villa
02:07in the Premier League on Sunday evening.
02:10Yes, you know, he hasn't got a striker.
02:13He's got a makeshift defence because of injury problems.
02:15He's kind of come in and already been faced
02:17with a lot of problems,
02:19but the team played really, really well
02:20and probably deserved to win the game in the second half.
02:22And, you know, under Lopetegui,
02:24after conceding in the eighth minute,
02:25we probably would have gone and lost that 2-3-4-0.
02:29So there's the big change already.
02:31He's got the team, you know, playing with a system,
02:33a system that suits the players at his disposal,
02:37and it's working.
02:39Yes, it's going to be up and down.
02:40We're not going to win every game
02:43and we're going to lose a few that perhaps
02:44we felt like we shouldn't lose on paper.
02:46Crystal Palace the other day being the big one at home,
02:50we went into that thinking we've just beaten Fulham,
02:52who are brilliant this season.
02:53We should be beating Palace at home
02:55when we lose that game 2-0.
02:57And it was kind of like,
02:57oh, that's not what we were expecting.
03:01But then you have to take a step back and go,
03:03well, like I said, he hasn't got a striker.
03:05He's got a makeshift defence.
03:06He's got a very slow and ageing midfield there,
03:09which was one of the biggest problems under Lopetegui.
03:11So he's got a lot of problems to fix,
03:13but already just by putting the players
03:16in the right positions and using these players
03:19to their strengths, to their actual qualities,
03:22we've got a team that can compete
03:24against the likes of Aston Villa away from home,
03:28even with four, five, six first team players out.
03:32So long-term, there's a lot of hope
03:34and a lot of promise, actually,
03:35that Graham Potter can come in
03:37and with a few transfer windows
03:39and a little bit of money to spend,
03:41can really build a team that can compete
03:44where West Ham fans and the club in particular
03:46really feel like it can, it should be,
03:49based on the last three or four years that we've had,
03:52and get back into the top 10 of the Premier League.
03:54If we can get back into Europe,
03:55that's what the fans want desperately.
03:57We've had such a great time over the last three years.
04:00And there's now promise and hope
04:03that Graham Potter is the guy.
04:05And there's a lot of fans going,
04:06he should have been the guy in the summer
04:09because look what he's achieved in two weeks.
04:12Think of what he could achieve
04:13if he had the £150 million to spend in the summer
04:16and he'd had the whole season.
04:18So it's still early days,
04:20but there's a far more positive feeling
04:25around the fan base at West Ham now
04:26than there was perhaps, what, three or four weeks ago.