Since Graham Potter’s arrival at West Ham, the club has shown significant improvements in their defensive record. The Hammers have become more solid at the back, with a noticeable reduction in goals conceded.
James Jones of LondonWorld highlights the key improvements, noting that Potter has managed to tighten up the defence while maintaining a balanced approach.
James Jones of LondonWorld highlights the key improvements, noting that Potter has managed to tighten up the defence while maintaining a balanced approach.
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00:00Now, since Graham Potter's arrival at West Ham, the club has shown significant improvements
00:07in their defensive record. The Hammers have become more solid at the back, with a notable
00:12reduction in goals conceded. Potter's tactical adjustments and emphasis on a more structured
00:18defensive approach have made a real difference. James Jones of London World highlights the
00:23key improvements, noting that Potter has managed to tighten up the defence while maintaining
00:28a balanced approach. We discuss West Ham's defensive progress under Potter and how these
00:33improvements could help them build a more consistent campaign moving forward.
00:58In terms of Potter and his defensive record, tidying things up a bit at the back, is that
01:03sort of the situation? What can you tell us on things that have improved since Potter
01:08came in?
01:09Well, Graham Potter, one of the first things he said was that the defensive record under
01:16Julian Lopetegui wasn't good and that's something that he needed to really address
01:20quite quickly. And I think we went from, under Lopetegui, I think we conceded 40 goals in
01:2618 games or something like that. And I think it was a record of two or just a little bit over two
01:32a game that we were conceding. And now since Potter's come in, we've conceded, I think,
01:35exactly one a game that we're conceding. So you want to get that average to below one,
01:41obviously, and that'd be the ideal scenario. But I think we've seen over the last four games,
01:45we've only conceded two in the last four, two clean sheets in that as well. But he is making
01:51progress on what was a serious issue under Lopetegui. You can't win games if you keep
01:56conceding two goals a game. So that's a really big plus that a lot of West Ham fans have noticed
02:02early on is that, yes, OK, on the face of it, there have been some games where you would
02:07have perhaps liked the result to be a bit better. But we're conceding fewer goals and
02:14that's a good start to kind of lay the foundations for progress moving forward.
02:19We're not going to see a lot of that progress between now and the end of the season, granted,
02:24but it allows us to kind of steady ourselves and then sort of focus on other areas of the
02:31pitch that also need improving that weren't perhaps as urgent. We can get through between
02:36now and the end of the season with that improved defensive record, maybe get a couple more clean
02:40sheets under our belt. That really gives Graham Potter a lot of improvement to work on ahead of
02:46next season, maybe bring in a few players that he needs in other areas of the squad in the summer
02:50and then go again next season with a much improved team and a much improved philosophy. But it was a
02:56major concern under Lopetegui but is no longer a major concern now. But it's still not perfect.
03:02But we have to remember that this isn't technically, it's not Graham Potter's squad.
03:06He's working with a hybrid of David Moyes' squad and Julian Lopetegui's squad. So you have to
03:11understand that it's still not going to be perfect. But the improvement there has been incredibly
03:15impressive in such a short space of time, given where we were only four or five months ago,
03:21regularly conceding two goals a game, three goals a game, four goals a game.
03:24So you have to give credit where credit's due. And I'm looking forward to seeing how we continue
03:28to improve under Potter in that respect. And what do you think has been the key to that?
03:34Obviously, we mentioned that there's a real strong core still in the team. And you look at the ages
03:40of some of the centre-backs, Thaddeo, Max Killman, 25, 27, etc. So really coming towards the prime
03:47of their careers. And then obviously the rise of Aaron Wan-Bissaka as well. He's been fantastic
03:52under Graham Potter, sort of revitalised for him as well. So do you feel there's been any standout
03:56players in terms of the backline who've really stepped up and improved since Potter's come in?
04:01Well, first and foremost, he's switched to a back five in the last four games and
04:05immediately we've seen the team just be a little bit more solid. Most of that time,
04:09it's been with Aaron Creswell as the third centre-back, almost acting as another left wing
04:16back alongside what has been Olly Scarles, but in other cases has been Emerson. And that really has
04:23just given that extra man in defence and has made us look just a lot more solid.
04:27So it's those two really, Wan-Bissaka and Killman, combined cost the club £55 million, £60 million
04:33last summer. And they're both proven to be very, very shrewd signings. Now we've got a
04:39manager that's kind of using them in an effective way.