Graham Potter coach called out after new West Ham footage vs Tottenham on Match of the Day
West Ham were on the receiving end of another heavy defeat against Tottenham on Saturday.
West Ham lost 3-0 to Tottenham at the London Stadium thanks to goals from Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall and Micky van de Ven, while Tomas Soucek also saw red for a bad challenge on Joao Palhinha.
After looking to be back on track with a shock 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, West Ham were brought back down to earth, with pressure cranking up on Graham Potter.
Shay Given was part of the punditry team for Match of the Day on Saturday night, and he pointed his criticism at one part of Potter’s set-up.
West Ham’s set-piece coach heavily criticised for Tottenham defeat
A common issue on show against Tottenham was the Hammers’ inability to defend set-pieces.
Cristian Romero saw a headed effort from a corner ruled out for a foul in the first half, before Sarr gave Spurs the lead just after half-time with a deep corner to the back post.
The second goal then came from a deep long ball from Romero, which caught the West Ham back line out for Bergvall to head home.
Given noticed this, and singled out Potter‘s set-piece coach for heavy criticism, considering how bad the Hammers were from dead-ball situations.
Speaking on Match of the Day, he said: “A dead-play coach would have to do the attacking set pieces as well as the defensive stuff, so at half-time the West Ham set-play coach will say, ‘Hang on a minute, we’ve got a problem around the back here, we need to see that off’.
“That, for me, is not good enough.”
West Ham need to work on set pieces urgently
The Hammers were horrific at defending set-pieces against Spurs, but that isn’t the first occasion that has been the case this season.
Potter saw his side concede three times from corners against Chelsea in their 5-1 defeat at the London Stadium, with the Blues being gifted the final two goals thanks to errors from Mads Hermansen, in particular.
| West Ham United | 2025/26 |
| Corners conceded | 32 |
| Goals conceded from corners | 6 |
If the Hammers are to survive, they need to drastically improve their ability at both attacking and defending set-pieces, especially with a trip to dead-ball specialists Arsenal on the horizon.
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