Graham Potter admitted that even after almost two years away from management, nothing can match the punch in the opposition's stomach when his West Ham side crashed out of the FA Cup in the lead against Aston Villa in their first match.
The new Hammers boss saw his side concede twice in five minutes of the second half as Amadou Onana and Morgan Rogers canceled out Lucas Paqueta's early strike to put Villa into the fourth round.
Potter returned to the dugout for the first time since being sacked as Chelsea boss in April 2023 after replacing Julen Lopetegui on Thursday.
West Ham started well and controlled much of the match, but first-half injuries to Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville allowed Villa to put them under pressure in the second half.
“Our performance gave me a lot of encouragement, the way the players tried to do what we asked of them was really encouraging,” Potter said. 'It's just that you can't reproduce that feeling when the opponent scores and it's in your stomach, but it is what it is.
“We had a few more chances at the end but it wasn't to be and their first goal came from a corner that we didn't think it was. We are disappointed.'
Potter confirmed that Fullkrug, who missed three months earlier in the season with an Achilles tendon injury, is a £27million summer signing and appears to have suffered another serious injury.
“It's a pretty serious hamstring pull when you pull up like that, so that's a concern for us,” Potter added. 'We have to assess him. Crysencio stopped for a while, we didn't think it was worth the risk to continue.'
The Hammers boss admitted that the loss of two key strikers to injury could mean the club has to enter the transfer market this month, but he would not be drawn on rumors linking the club with a move from the out-of-favour Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford.
“We have to look at the extent of the injuries and see how long it will take for the boys to come back,” Potter said. 'We don't know the extent. If there aren't, that's something we need to look at.
“I used to say this about 20 months ago: I only comment on players who are West Ham players. Sometimes the things stated in the newspaper are not always true and you can get caught in knots confirming and denying everything. It's about the group doing well together. There is no shortage of talent at this club.'
Villa boss Unai Emery said: 'West Ham started well and we conceded an easy goal. After we started to dominate the game better, we didn't really create very good opportunities to score, but we stopped them. We had to be patient and then impose and be consistent in our attack.
'This club has won this competition seven times, we have to be proud of our past, but at the same time be in the present and the future.'
Match winner Rogers dreams of silverware. 'Why can't we win it? “Anything can happen in a cup competition,” he said.
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