West Ham United bust-up on cards at Rush Green, Graham Potter ‘not happy’
West Ham have endured a rough time since Graham Potter took the reins at the London Stadium.
The Hammers have won just three of his 12 matches in charge since he replaced Julen Lopetegui in January, in a really poor start.
Potter was supposed to usher in a new era with the Irons and improve their miserable campaign but that has not happened so far and doubts are beginning to emerge over the former Brighton boss.
Potter not happy with West Ham scenes
Niclas Fullkrug was furious after the 1-1 draw with Southampton (19 April) and launched an expletive-filled rant in a post-match interview.
Former Irons manager Alan Pardew believes that the rant could cause problems at Rush Green, and Potter will not be happy with it.
Speaking on talkSPORT (20 April), he said: “Unfortunately for Graham, he has a player come out and give a press conference in a quite outlandish way, I would have been really upset with that as the manager.
“He was almost criticising the team tactically, if I were a teammate, I would certainly have an issue with him.
“Forget about the manager, if I see him on Monday and I was a player, I’d be like, ‘what have you got to say, who were you talking about, who are you referring to?’, but that is another story.”
West Ham need to turn things around
Gary Lineker leapt to Potter’s defence after the draw with the Premier League bottom-dwellers; however, it was simply not good enough, and it was a microcosm of the Hammers’ problems right now.
Admittedly, the former Seagulls man inherited a poor squad and one that was low on confidence and needs significant improvement in the transfer window.
| Stats | Wins | Draws | Losses |
| Potter | 3 | 4 | 7 |
He obviously deserves time to improve the squad after the miserable failings of Tim Steidten and Lopetegui last summer and should not be sacked anytime soon but a lack of progress is a huge concern.
The 49-year-old has made next to no progress and expectations around his reign have dampened massively after an underwhelming start with supporters increasingly unhappy with performances and some even threatening to cancel their season tickets at the London Stadium.
Potter came to East London with a big reputation despite a poor stint at Chelsea and he needs to turn things around quickly next season, otherwise David Sullivan may have to make another change in the dugout.
It remains to be seen whether he can get his side on the right track, but right now it is hard to believe that he can, because the evidence has been worrying and his side were booed off the pitch last time out.
As for Fullkrug, he needs to worry about himself more.