Graham Potter was in the offensive as soon as he got through the door. “Must have been a bad result in the weekend,” he noticed when he turned around to face a rare packaged media room in Rush Green.
He could say that again.
A 3-0 defeat against Sunderland to start the season where Potter always had to be assessed, who after the summer where he hoped to get all the players he needed to put the aging, under-performing team he inherited and stamped his style and authority on it. Then they went to the stadium of Light and were trounded by a newly promoted team with just two new signing sessions in his starting line-up.
Potter argued, not wrongly, that West Ham had done well in the first half to calm a raw home crowd and to control the game, even if it is not enough to take the lead. He said it was a “header from heaven” who had left them behind. But the problem was that West Ham, as they did so often last season, when collapsed and capitulated.
Now they welcome his former club Chelsea on Friday evening ahead to start a competition run that then reads: Forest Away, Tottenham at home, Palace at home, Everton Agnen and Arsenal. West Ham has not won a home game since February, one of only two in his term of office so far.
Those who spent time in the team in the summer, their journeys through the US for the summer series and back at Rush Green for the preseason about how united the group was, even on the back such a gloomy Premier League campaign. They hadn't seen it for a long time. Potter's presentation to his team for the season was described as inspiring.
All this was very different from the arrival of Potter when his predecessor Julen Lopetegui clashed with defender Jean-Clair Todibo, goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and now Tottenham Winger Mohammed Kudus.
And yet the problems of West Ham against Sunderland were the same problems that they played last season, the same problems that the club knew they had to solve in the summer, and know that they can undo their do not do it in the coming weeks: midfielders who can run, pass, drip, control and dominate games. Potter started in the Stadium of Light with James Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez in the middle of the park.
After the pounding defeat, fake rumors spread online over a bust of a dressing room, including Potter, who were not true, not substantiated and quickly shot by several club insiders.
It was a frustrated a post-match, of course led by a 'smoking' captain Jarrod Bowen, but sources close to the dressing room insisted that the daily post sport was that the atmosphere around the team was still 'very positive'. The message was that the feeling among them is that there is still a long way to go.
That is true, and vice-chairman Karren Brady wanted to emphasize to defeat the day after the Sunderland that West Ham is not a club that panics about his managers'.
Nevertheless, it was still a spiky potter who even put about a simple questions about whether he thinks about his experience and performance in the game to help him during difficult moments.
“I undoubtedly doubt my ability, without a doubt,” he snarled back.
'And I have no doubts about the players and I have no doubt that we will undoubtedly improve. I understand that people will be critical, I understand that people will be negative, I understand that the world we are in. That's why you are all here, because this time last week there were about three people here. That is the world in which we find ourselves. It makes no sense to complain about it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, everyone has the right to put pressure. I don't care what you think or what people say from outside. I come in here, work with the boys, do my utmost for the club, fights every day to improve and that is what I will continue to do. '
The issue is that the side of Potter misses leaders, because when things go bad and, in his previous words, has a lot of 'luggage'. This was a team that dropped eight points between March and April in six games from Goals admitted after the 88th minute, with Run Fullkrug called the 'Mindset problem' of the club.
Potter felt the need to appoint sports psychologist James Bell in the summer to collaborate with his players and the leadership team on the side, including Captain Bowen, Tomas Soucek, James Ward-Prowse, Max Kilman, Nayef Aguerd and Fullkrug.
In the summer they lost leaders such as Lukas Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell, important members of the dressing room. Bowen gives a good example on the field, but is not the type to throw tea cups.
However, it was not only the media in Potter's Crosshairs. Potter had eerder het gebrek aan actie van de club in het transfervenster verdedigd en beweerd dat er geen 'zilveren kogel' is om al hun problemen op te lossen, maar toen hij op de meerdere gebieden werd geduwd, moest zijn team verbeteren – in de centrale verdediging, in het middenveld en in aanval – hij merkte op dat ze misschien een paar zilveren kogels nodig hadden en, in een snelle ademhaling, in plaats daarvan een paar zilveren kogels nodig hadden en, in een snelle breathing, instead of a few silver bullets needed and, in a quick breathing, instead needed a few silver bullets and, in a quick breathing, needed a few silver bullets instead and, in a quick breathing, needed a pair of fast breathing instead, in place, instead of the silver kogels, and, and,, and,, and,, and,, and,, and,, and,, and, Review the review of the recent recent review ham.
“If I look historically, West Ham has spent money, signed players,” Potter continued. 'Signing players is simple, you believe me. You could do it. It's easy. It doesn't mean they will be the right one. It does not mean that the team will improve. It does not mean that in six months you will be stuck with a player who has too much money, that is too old and you cannot sell them. '
He knows how that feels, okay. Potter has discovered this at its expense this summer, whereby the club is unable to shift much of its unwanted assets.
For a club that received £ 105 million for Declan Rice two years ago and has since spent more than £ 300 million, they have still not been able to replace its quality or leadership.
The £ 19 million signing of wing-back el Hadji Malick Diouf this summer has been a promising. The club granted Potter and his recruitment team their desire to sign goalkeeper Mads Hermansen from Leicester instead of Brazilian John Victor, prior to a disappointing debut littered with mistakes. However, the arrival of Callum Wilson as a free agent was not on Potter's Bingo card.
West Ham tries to get deals before the window closes, but so far with little success. Potter wants a sitting midfielder and a creative one. Southampton's Mateus Fernandes remains their top list and two bids have arrived, but the ratings of the two clubs continue to miles apart. Saints want £ 50 million and the Hamers are currently not much above £ 30 million.
The club has also made an offer for Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado as well as Chelsea's Andrey Santos, although their bid for these last kilometers was too short for their asking price. Feyernoord's Qutenten Timber, brother of Arsenal -defender Jurrien, is also on their tracking list.
Edson Alvarez joins Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce on loan, who should help West Ham now that wages are £ 115,000 a week.
“It would be easy for me to sit here and say that it would be nice to spend £ 200 million, but that is not the case,” he added.
“So I have to work with what I have responsible and with the club together to ensure that we are coordinated with each other, to ensure that we end the window stronger than when we started it.”
He certainly can't say that yet.