West Ham: No ‘Potterball’ yet but new boss has already changed the mood | OneFootball

Already signs in win over Fulham of the impact Potter has made at the London Stadium

Asked what he made of his new team’s performance, Graham Potter picked his words carefully.

Potter acknowledged in press conferences both before and after Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Fulham that while the club’s recruitment team work behind the scenes searching for a striker to bring in this month, in the meantime it is his responsibility to find workable solutions from the players he has available.

Rather than starting Danny Ings, the club’s only fit and available striker, Potter placed trust in Lucas Paqueta to lead the line. It was a decision that paid dividends, with Paqueta earning man of the match.

Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Fulham gave West Ham their first victory since Boxing Day

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Potter will have sensed the colliding of good decision-making and good luck when watching substitute Ings tackle goalkeeper Bernd Leno and lay off for Paqueta to score West Ham’s third goal. Given Fulham made it 3-2 shortly after and ramped up the pressure late on, that goal felt all the more vital by the end.

Though Mohammed Kudus had a quiet night - something which became a little too common in Julen Lopetegui’s final days - he was involved in the second goal, a sweeping move which pleased Potter greatly.

That marked shortage of attacking options meant playing Carlos Soler (scorer of the first after an Andreas Pereira error) on the left, Kudus on the right, and advancing Tomas Soucek to the head of a midfield three. Soucek capped that more attacking role by scoring a well-worked second goal, which came just two minutes after Soler’s.

Fulham are not ninth in the Premier League table by fluke, and started both halves with a greater intensity than the passive Hammers. The Cottagers then came close to levelling in the final 10 minutes too.

A certain irony arose from realising West Ham’s striker crisis had produced a display in which they had scored with all three of their shots on targets.

A stodgy-looking midfield trio of Edson Alvarez, Guido Rodriguez and Soucek were pleasantly surprising. Rodriguez’s summer move from Real Betis has looked cursed, while Alvarez’s discipline has been a serious issue this season.

West Ham fans seem to have taken to Potter following his appointment to replace Julen Lopetegui

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Both were zestful and busy without overstepping the mark - perhaps an early indication of changing fortunes for West Ham under Potter.

The roar around the London Stadium felt more emphatic than after any of Lopetegui’s wins there this season. The crowd seemed to take to Potter, who celebrated each of his team’s goals with a punch of the air and embrace with his coaching staff.

With West Ham 12th in the table and out of every cup competition, Potter's task for the second half of the season is to build healthy habits within his team, setting standards that were either not set or not met under Lopetegui.

Included in that must be a concerted effort to improve the fourth-worst defence in the division.

Fulham’s two goals were Alex Iwobi crosses which, rather than getting their intended touch off a Fulham player, simply bounced past Lukasz Fabianski. Conceding that goal twice in the same match would more often than not lead to defeat. This time, they got away with it.

But certain players had a freedom about them, as though a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. That was a compliment to Potter so early in his tenure, and a very encouraging sight.

“Lots to do,” he said, “But a great start.”