Graham Potter Outlines Vision Ahead of First Full West Ham Season | OneFootball

Graham Potter Targets Stability and Unity at West Ham

With pre-season complete and the Premier League opener against Sunderland looming, Graham Potter’s West Ham are entering the new campaign with renewed optimism. After inheriting a turbulent squad midway through last season, Potter has used the summer to instil a clear vision, tighten the culture at Rush Green, and shape a more united dressing room.

Reflecting on the challenges he faced last term, Potter told The Standard: “If you look at our recent history, David Moyes left after having real success at the club and when you make a change after a long time, there are implications. Everybody then has to adapt to a new style which can be challenging, the club invested a lot of money in the team and expectations went high.

“The reality is that when there is a lot of change, when new players come, especially from outside the Premier League, sometimes that reality doesn’t match the expectation level. Then, if things don’t go that well, all of a sudden it can be a challenging environment.”

Photo: IMAGO

Lessons From a Difficult Introduction

Potter arrived in January to replace Julen Lopetegui, immediately confronted by a mounting injury list. An FA Cup tie at Aston Villa saw Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville join the absentees alongside Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio.

A stunning 1-0 win over Arsenal in February briefly ignited hopes of a revival, but consistency proved elusive. The Hammers eventually finished 14th, only above Manchester United and Tottenham as a modest consolation.

Potter has been candid about the realities of taking over mid-season: “When you change managers again halfway through the season, it’s not because it’s all going well – rather something’s not working. It’s not that, when I came, that I expected people to trust me. You have to earn that trust over time.”

Summer Rebuild and Squad Shaping

West Ham’s summer has seen measured recruitment. The £19m signing of Senegalese wing-back El Hadji Malick Diouf and £20m goalkeeper Mads Hermansen have been balanced with free transfers for Callum Wilson and Kyle Walker-Peters. Academy products Freddie Potts and George Earthy return from promising loans to add youthful depth.

Potter sees value in the blend: “Malick and Mads have been positive signings… Callum and Kyle bring experience and quality. I think we’ve done quite well because we did lose a lot of experience at the end of last season.”

Photo IMAGO

The sale of Mohammed Kudus to Spurs has been offset by Potter’s aim for a smaller, more competitive squad. Lucas Paqueta remains “happy and committed” despite transfer links elsewhere.

Building a Recognisable West Ham

Central to Potter’s philosophy is re-establishing the club’s identity: “We need to make this team more recognisable, what a West Ham team looks like. West Ham fans want to see attacking football… We want to be positive, have an idea of how we want to attack and score while maintaining the defensive balance and stability.”

Trust, responsibility and togetherness have been key themes: “If you live in a blame culture, a fear culture, it’s very difficult… My way of approaching that is to ask myself, ‘have you created an environment that isn’t about blame and fear but is about responsibility, accountability, standards, trust and honesty?’”

Potter’s first full season in charge begins with a testing run of fixtures, starting away at newly promoted Sunderland before facing Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.