Graham Potter defends his players as West Ham season starts in a shambles

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Evening Standard

·22. August 2025

Graham Potter defends his players as West Ham season starts in a shambles

Two defeats and eight goals conceded leaves the Hammers fearing for another miserable campaign

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Graham Potter reiterated his belief in himself and his players to turn things around at West Ham after they fell to a 5-1 defeat at home to Chelsea.

The Hammers conceded five goals, after Lucas Paqueta’s opener, on Friday as Chelsea ran out comfortable winners on a chastening night at the London Stadium.

Potter and his players were met with boos at both half-time and full-time as supporters voiced their anger at a miserable start to the season.

Potter was quick to take responsibility for the defeat and said his players were determined to make amends after a disastrous start to the season.

"You're under pressure all the time in these jobs, in this situation, that's how it is. I know the territory, I know what comes with poor results, and I accept my responsibility," Potter said in his post-match press conference.

"I don't want to say it's a lack of fight because I know the players care and I know the players desperately want to do well.

"I work with them every day, I know they want to do better than we are, but I think sometimes in football and in life, you can hit a patch where it's tough and there's no doubt about it."

Potter, who has won just two of his ten home games as West Ham manager, denied accusations that his team were suffering from a lack of leadership despite shipping eight goals in their first two Premier League games.

"Well, I don't doubt the people in the dressing room, I don't doubt that. I think they've got leadership qualities, I think there's character in the dressing room, but I think we're struggling and we're suffering at the moment because we've had a tough week.

"It's a combination of a subpar second half against Sunderland that we paid for incredibly, and then we were too cheap and too easy to score against a top team with talented players."

West Ham head to Wolves in the Carabao Cup in a desperate search for a morale-boosting victory on Tuesday, with Potter acutely aware of the pressure that is already on his shoulders.