West Ham’s first season under Graham Potter has been a learning curve, but how valuable is this period as preparation for next year? On the positive side, Potter has implemented his tactical philosophy, and young talents are gaining vital experience.
However, inconsistency remains an issue, and adapting to his system has taken time. While European qualification may be unlikely, using this season as a foundation for future success is crucial. In a new segment, we discussed the positives and possible concerns ahead of the run-in for the Hammers.
However, inconsistency remains an issue, and adapting to his system has taken time. While European qualification may be unlikely, using this season as a foundation for future success is crucial. In a new segment, we discussed the positives and possible concerns ahead of the run-in for the Hammers.
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00:00So James, looking at West Ham and let's sort of look ahead to the remainder of the season
00:07now obviously not a load of games to go in terms of West Ham's season with them being
00:14out of the cup competitions and no European football this time round. How do you sort
00:19of look ahead to the remainder of this season? Where can you sort of see them finishing and
00:24getting on and can you see it as sort of a positive for Graham Potter to have this bit
00:29of a trial run before really giving it a go with the full season with the side next
00:34season now? Yeah I think a lot of fans have accepted the fact that there's nothing really
00:41much to play for this season now and it's all about really like you just said there
00:46Graham Potter just having an opportunity to work with the squad that he's got, integrate
00:51Evan Ferguson into the team and get him playing, get some key players back from injury and
00:57sort of really imposing his style and his philosophy and his ideas onto this squad ahead
01:03of what we're hoping to be a decent summer of business for us to sort of get the players
01:07in ahead of next season. But you know we haven't got anything to play for. So from a fan's
01:14perspective it purely is just seeing this team develop into a Graham Potter team and
01:22if we can sort of start, we've already started seeing the signs admittedly over the last
01:26few performances and you know if we can make a push for a surprising top 10 finish then
01:33great but I think realistically we're probably looking you know between 11th and 14th is
01:39probably a realistic finish for us which you know beginning last summer there was a lot
01:44of hope that we'd maybe push for Europe. That didn't work on the Lopotegi as a result of
01:49that. It means that we had to kind of reassess our expectations but you know this is now,
01:55it was always going to be a transitional season for us given the change of manager last summer
02:00and it's still that now with a new manager in place and so it's just a case of we need
02:05to kind of just temper our expectations between now and the end of the season and just hope
02:10that you know Graham Potter can really get the team playing the way he wants them to
02:14play and like I said we've seen some good, some early positive signs so I think I said
02:20last week that you know there is a positive atmosphere around the club at the moment and
02:25then there is hope that we are now finally going in the right direction post David Moyes.
02:31Yeah obviously the summer was quite big in terms of the spending under Lopotegi. They
02:36clearly felt he was the right man to take them forward and backed him very well. Do
02:40you sort of feel there are the foundations have already been laid in terms of the sort
02:45of quality throughout the side that there are there to go and get European football
02:49again consistently. That's where obviously the club want to be and obviously after that
02:54trophy success as well and then obviously you know as we mentioned Potter's time is
02:58so crucial this season to really sort of give it a trial run and then go full front next
03:03season and really you know do you feel it could really benefit the club in terms of
03:07their long term goals?
03:10Yeah I think I've said it a number of times before that the summer that we did last year
03:15wasn't a problem really. Last summer it wasn't, the players that he brought in there are still
03:22some question marks over one or two of them but overall the business that we did wasn't
03:26that bad. It was just the fact that the manager couldn't really impose a good enough system.
03:31On paper the squad is good enough to be competing for a top eight Premier League finish and
03:36to qualify for Europe. It is you know Lucas Paquitao, Mo Kudas, Jarrod Bowen, now you've
03:41got Evan Ferguson in midfield, you've got Edson Alvarez at the back, you've got Jean-Claude
03:46Thibaud, you've got Max Killman, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, you know all players that are good enough
03:51to be playing in European competition. So it's now down to Graham Potter. The foundations
03:56are there, you're right, it's just have we got the manager to do it and I think we do
04:00have the manager to really push us on from next season onwards.
04:04And here's what boss Graham Potter had to say.
04:06I believe in the team and I believe in the club and I believe that our fans want a team.
04:12They want a team, they want a team fighting for each other, they want a team that's going
04:15in the same direction. I think that's really important for us and so therefore my pickiness
04:21is just to make sure that we get people that want to buy into that and that we can use
04:28in the right way.