Graham Potter faces his old club Chelsea on Friday night after shaking off his seven-month horror stint at Stamford Bridge to walk into a fresh and difficult challenge at West Ham
The results make pretty grim reading after Graham Potter’s first eight months in charge.
Incredibly, West Ham have lost HALF of their 20 games in all competitions since Potter took over back in January and have managed just five wins. It means that the spotlight – even after just one defeat in the season opener at newly-promoted Sunderland – is already on the Hammers boss.
Potter, 50, knows the atmosphere could quickly turn toxic if they lose their first home game to his former club Chelsea on Friday night. But the former Chelsea boss, who has clearly developed a tougher edge from his time at Stamford Bridge, insists he can turn things around.
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Potter joked that he could tell there was already a story around him because more people showed up for his pre-match press conference. But he also said he really could not care less. Hammers boss Potter said: “I’m confident. Honestly, I am. I’m confident that we can do it. I have no doubt whatsoever about my ability, no doubt whatsoever. And I have no doubt about the players and I have no doubt about the team that we’ll improve, no doubt.
“But I also know that it’s a bad result at the weekend. So clearly people will be upset and clearly people will be critical and there’ll be negativity. I understand that. But I’m confident in myself, I’m confident in the team, I’m confident in the players. I believe in what we’re doing. But we have to, of course, it’s just talk, so we have to show.
“That’s why you guys are all here, because this time last week there was about three people here. That’s the world we’re in. No point complaining about it. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion, everybody’s entitled to put pressure on. I couldn’t care less what you guys think or what people say from outside.
“I come in here, work with the guys, do my very best for the club, fight every day to improve and that’s what I’ll continue to do. I think we’re making progress. But at the same time, it’s hard to say that when you just lost 3-0. So I’m saying it in the respect of that. And I don’t think we’re far away. But clearly the result isn’t good enough at the weekend. You’ve got to hold both positions.”
Potter gained a reputation at Ostersund, Swansea and Brighton for being calm, considered and also very measured. There is no doubt that he is a different person after the pressure and backlash from his seven month stint at Chelsea which must go down as a failure. It was the first backward step in his managerial career and he is trying to rebuild and regroup at West Ham. He is philosophical but there is no more Mr Nice Guy. He makes cutting remarks and comes across as having been bruised by the whole experience.
So he insisted that he paid absolutely no attention when West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady went on talkSPORT radio station to back Potter and insisted that there was no reason to “panic.” Potter said: “I don’t think too much about it to be honest. I didn’t even know she’d been on the radio. With the greatest respect, I don’t listen to the radio. Especially that station.
“I have to stay calm and I have to stay confident in what we’re doing and take my responsibility, encourage the players to do the same. They do. Players have been gutted, they were really upset because of course the result is not what we wanted. And they’re a really good bunch, I really like them. So we have to deal with it together and I think we’ve done that this week in a really good way. I’m proud of them for how they’ve dealt with it.”