Former West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker claims Graham Potter “looked like he had no idea what to do” as the Hammers’ troubles continued last night with a 3-2 defeat at Wolves in the EFL Cup.
West Ham lost both of their opening two Premier League games – 3-0 at newly promoted Sunderland and 5-1 at home to London rivals Chelsea – and had hoped to gain a morale-boosting win at Molineux.
It seemed to be panning out that way as they led 2-1 with eight minutes to go but two goals from home substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen saw them dumped out and led to an angry confrontation at the final whistle between West Ham fans and captain Jarrod Bowen, who had to be pulled away by his team-mates.
‘It looks bleak for West Ham’
The defeat compounds an impression of an unhappy club and Reo-Coker, who made over 100 appearances for West Ham and captained them in the 2006 FA Cup final, admits Potter looked bereft of ideas last night.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily podcast: “It looks very bleak for West Ham right now. Things are looking tough. I think they will be in a relegation battle this season. There was just no fight or togetherness against Chelsea. They looked like a bunch of individuals.
“The biggest worry is midfield because they just don’t have any legs or dogs of war to win the ball back. They look weak.
“They can’t get the ball up either because there’s no real target man. Recruitment has been a big problem at West Ham for some time now. They have no real direction in what they are trying to build or do.”
West Ham boss Potter looked lost – Reo-Coker
Potter cut a frustrated figure on the touchline against Wolves and Reo-Coker said he was concerned by his demeanour.
He added: “You can always tell a lot by a manager’s body language and facial expressions and a couple of times when the cameras panned to him, he looked like he had no idea what to do. Potter looked lost.
“I think most West Ham fans will just be happy to see them stay up this season. There is no other ambition than survival in the Premier League.”
Potter has taken charge of 22 games for West Ham across all competitions, winning just five – a worse record than predecessor Julen Lopetegui had before he was sacked.
And he conceded last night he was not enjoying the current situation.
The former Brighton and Chelsea boss said: “We’re all in pain so we need everybody to help, we need everybody’s support, we need to push forward and on to the next match.
“The team’s suffering at the moment, we all are, we’re all hurting. I can assure you no-one’s happy.”
