Troy Deeney poses Graham Potter question after West Ham appointment
Troy Deeney has questioned if Graham Potter will be able to implement change as quickly as supporters want to see it at West Ham.
David Sullivan made the decision to part ways with Julen Lopetegui on Wednesday (8 January) after the Spaniard oversaw a wildly inconsistent, albeit brief, tenure after replacing David Moyes in the summer.
Potter was appointed as Lotegegui’s successor on Thursday (9 January) signing a two-and-a-half-year deal at The London Stadium.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (10 January, 11:08), Deeney questioned whether supporters will have the patience for Potter as he said: “I think he’ll be able to do it, I don’t see he’s going to see instant success because I think there’s going to be a lot of times when they fail because I think they are going to play out from the back, he’s going to have to isn’t he?
“He just strikes me as a nice guy, you’d love to go and have a chat and talk football with him but I don’t know whether he’ll connect with the West Ham fans. I don’t know.
“Of late there’s a lot of frustration with the ownership, there’s a lot of frustration with changing stadiums, there’s a lot of different nuanced things that and they want to see something relatively quickly because they were sold this, we’re moving on from David Moyes it’s going to be this thing and this whole playing of football, look how much we’ve spent.
“But the fact of the matter is now they’re in a situation where they can’t really spend because they spent so much in the summer and probably going to have to go to the loan market but we want to see something that suggests we’ve moved forward.”
Graham Potter will need time to make an impact at West Ham
After having to watch Lopetegui’s tenure throughout the first half of the season, understandably Hammers fans will want to see change under Potter at The London Stadium going forward.
However, the 49-year-old needs to be given the opportunity to make a real impact in East London without being judged too soon.
There is a middle ground to be found in which the performances of the Irons improve in the second half of the season and there is a clear improvement in a number of players.
However, the new boss will also need the opportunity to really implement his own vision progressing forward, which will likely come after the conclusion of this season.
The hierarchy at The London Stadium clearly knows this is the case as they made the decision to give Potter a longer contract than he was initially offered which should be a relief for supporters with a plan clearly in place.
The hope now is that the new manager shows he has what it takes to progress with the Irons going forward.
In other West Ham news, Alex Crook shares a ‘bizarre’ Irons claim after a breaking Everton announcement.
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