Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishOne of Graham Potter’s first acts as West Ham United head coach was to call a team meeting where an inquest into the season resulted in uncomfortable home truths.Potter was appointed on January 9 as successor to Julen Lopetegui, who departed after the shortest managerial tenure in the club’s 129-year history, sacked after just 22 games. The meeting between Potter and the squad was held at the training ground in Rush Green. Potter and his backroom staff listened while captain Jarrod Bowen and others outlined where improvement was needed.Potter, who signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, then spoke to players individually to gauge the mood. Over the past three months, the 49-year-old has leaned on his man-management skills to help lift morale.“In a season, there’s always moments where you have to have these home truths,” Potter said in Thursday’s press conference before the home game against Southampton. “You have to look people in the eye and speak honestly. They help clear the air and give people a chance to voice their frustrations. That’s something we do all the time. It helps us understand and look under the bonnet to see things clearer.“The players are a good group but they’re frustrated with where the season has gone. No one is celebrating where we are in the table. There’s things we can build on, which will be exciting. The most frustrating thing is we haven’t had the points we would’ve liked. The positive things we have done hasn’t transferred into consistent results.”Saturday marks 100 days since Potter’s appointment. He has overseen 12 Premier League games but has a paltry return of three victories, three draws and six loses. His first three months is similar to the starts of Gianfranco Zola and Manuel Pellegrini.
ManagerPointsSpellLeagueHarry Redknapp14Aug 94 – May 01Premier LeagueGlenn Roeder15May 01 – Aug 03Premier LeagueTrevor Brooking21Aug 03 – Oct 03ChampionshipAlan Pardew13Oct 03 – Dec 06ChampionshipAlan Curbishley6Dec 06 – Sep 08Premier LeagueGianfranco Zola12Sep 08 – May 10Premier LeagueAvram Grant8Jun 10 – May 11Premier LeagueSam Allardyce20Jun 11 – May 15ChampionshipSlaven Bilic21Jun 15 – Nov 17Premier LeagueDavid Moyes16Nov 17 – May 18Premier LeagueManuel Pellegrini12May 18 – Dec 19Premier LeagueDavid Moyes8Dec 19 – May 24Premier LeagueJulen Lopetegui15May 24 – Jan 25Premier LeagueGraham Potter12Jan 25 – PresentPremier League
West Ham’s precarious league position — 17th on 35 points after 32 games — shows the uphill battle Potter faces. The squad will be overhauled this summer with stalwarts Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Michail Antonio and Vladimir Coufal entering the final months of their deals. Tomas Soucek, Edson Alvarez, Guido Rodriguez and Emerson Palmieri have uncertain futures, while the loans of Carlos Soler, from Paris Saint-Germain, and Evan Ferguson, from Brighton & Hove Albion, are unlikely to be converted into permanent deals.Potter predicts an exciting summer but pursuing key targets will be arduous with no European football to offer. The head coach will use the remaining fixtures against Southampton, Brighton, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town to determine who stays. The spirited narrow 2-1 loss against Liverpool showed the potential of the team, as did the 1-0 win against Arsenal in February.Post-match, the head coach rewarded the squad with a day off. Part of Lopetegui’s undoing was limiting days off, which affected morale. Potter has been more willing. Under Lopetegui, players found instructions in training and matches confusing — and goalkeepers trained with the outfielders. But Potter and his first-team coaches have increased the intensity in training. Soucek spoke about this after the 2-0 win over Leicester City.
Lopetegui had the shortest-ever tenure as a West Ham manager (OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)“The manager has helped changed our mentality,” the midfielder told The Athletic. “We believe what we are doing in the sessions and we are all motivated to work for each other. I’m excited about what we can achieve under Potter.“I remember a session we had and it was a good battle because no one wanted to lose. This is what we need. We don’t even want that feeling of losing five-a-side games. We’re trying to transfer that mindset from the training ground onto the pitch. We can play however we want but the results are the most important thing. We know the table is tough now and also us not being in Europe. But our motivation is to end the season strong and finish higher than our rivals Tottenham!”There have been mitigating factors for West Ham’s lack of consistency. Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville sustained hamstring injuries in Potter’s first game against Aston Villa. Although Fullkrug has made an encouraging return, Summerville remains sidelined. Michail Antonio is rehabilitating from the broken leg he sustained in a car crash in December. The attacking burden has fallen on Bowen, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta.Another cause for concern was the porous defence. West Ham had conceded 24 goals in 12 league games before Potter’s arrival. But they have since conceded 14 goals across games against Fulham, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal, Leicester City, Newcastle, Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth and Liverpool. Potter abandoned the 4-2-3-1 formation for a wing-back system. Back-to-back league clean sheets against Arsenal and Leicester showed the team responded well, as did the performance against Liverpool.“When we’ve come to Liverpool before we’ve conceded five goals in both games,” Bowen told The Athletic. “We were conceding a lot of goals but now we’ve taken a pride in defending. The manager has brought that in. We’ve been hard to play against and when we’ve done well, teams have hated playing against us. We’ve been resolute at the back and it’s given us better chances of winning games. If you’re conceding two, or three, it’s difficult to get results. For us, it’s been improving without the ball. The performances have been better.”Potter had been out of work since being sacked by Chelsea in April 2023.He turned down interest from Dutch club Ajax and French side Lyon, with the Premier League his preferred destination. He held talks with Leicester City in June but had reservations, before they appointed Steve Cooper. Following Cooper’s departure in November, he was on their managerial shortlist again but nothing materialised. That was to West Ham’s benefit.
Potter was sacked by Chelsea in April 2023 (JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)There was an initial hold-up over his appointment. Potter wanted a longer contract, with West Ham initially keen to appoint him only until the end of the season, but both parties came to an agreement.“The potential here is huge and exciting,” Potter said in his press conference on Thursday. “We have a lot of things going for us. The resources are there to be competitive. We have a really ambitious and supportive board. Now it is about building a foundation to allow us to achieve.”Potter’s time out of management prepared him for his next role. He learned Spanish, sought advice from former England and Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson and England rugby union head coach Steve Borthwick. Potter did not want an immediate return to management. He wanted to prioritise family time before returning to the limelight with punditry work. But whenever he attended games, the talk around his future reached a point where he preferred to attend matches in Europe rather than the Premier League.This was out of respect for incumbent managers. In January 2024, Potter attended Arsenal’s 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace. Hodgson, then Palace manager, was under pressure and Potter was linked as his potential successor. The following month Hodgson stepped down from the role because of illness and Palace appointed Oliver Glasner. But the mounting speculation was a reminder to Potter of why he preferred to keep a low profile.Still, he leaned on Hodgson’s advice before making the next step in his managerial career.
Hodgson and Potter in 2019 (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)“I have a good relationship with Roy and met up with him a few times on various coaching courses,” Potter said. “I always like to speak to him because he’s very wise. We’ve had a similar past in terms of working in Scandinavia. He’s someone I respect a lot. It’s always nice seeing and listening to him. It’s always been useful.”Potter was also heavily linked with the England job before Thomas Tuchel’s appointment. Amid speculation over his next landing spot, Potter went skiing with his kids and went to the Falkland Islands, visiting the British Armed Forces based there to deliver a speech on leadership and difficult situations, as well as a youth football club and spoke at a college. Mike Summers, chairman of the islands’ National Sports Council football club, is appreciative of his brief interaction with Potter.“He came to the military base at Mount Pleasant,” Summers told The Athletic. “We kindly asked if he could visit the team and he agreed. It’s not often you get a Premier League manager in the Falklands. He spoke to the players about his playing and managerial career. He didn’t do any coaching drills. It was relaxed.“At the end, we had a crossbar challenge but Graham wouldn’t quite hit the bar! It was a lovely experience for everyone and we still talk about it. We’re really grateful Graham passed by because he could’ve easily said no. I have a soft spot for West Ham so it’s great to see him back in management.”Potter’s backroom staff consists of first-team coaches Bruno, Billy Reid, Narcis Pelach and goalkeeper coach Xavi Valero, who worked previously under Pellegrini, David Moyes and Lopetegui. Having pre-season would have been Potter’s preferred option, but he could not turn down the opportunity.“There were opportunities to work abroad, which I’m grateful for because I don’t think English coaches get those opportunities,” he said before the FA Cup loss to Aston Villa. “But at the same time, the Premier League was the league that, if you speak to coaches around the world, they’re all working towards getting here.”Potter’s family are still based in Hove on the Sussex coast, but he has settled in the capital. He was pictured travelling on the London Underground after the away win against Arsenal. Off the field, he has become a fan of Taylor Swift and Sam Fender, who will perform at the London Stadium in June.Potter’s managerial career began in 2007, and he has gone on to have spells in charge of Ostersund, Swansea City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea. He believes he is a better head coach from his experiences at Stamford Bridge despite lasting less than seven months.
“That’s life and there’s nothing I can do about that,” said Potter of being jettisoned, before the 2-1 loss to Chelsea. “I did my best. I didn’t want to lose my job but maybe it’s the best thing and maybe the next 10–20 years are going to be great because of the experience I’ve had. I’ve got no bad feelings towards Chelsea. Sometimes the experiences that are more traumatic and tougher and more intense are the ones that can make the biggest difference in terms of growth and development.”
In July, Potter received an honorary doctorate by Leeds Beckett University, where he gained some of his early coaching experience, for services to sport. Time out of management gave Potter perspective and this was most evident during his heartfelt speech.“As I reflect back on my career, I thought I’d share some thoughts and some reminders to myself as to how to live a meaningful life,” he said. “I say reminders because I am far from perfect. I am absolutely a work in progress. My first reflection is life isn’t fair. Don’t expect it to be. Life will come out of nowhere and absolutely floor you and then the next moment deliver such wonder and beauty that you can’t believe your luck. Face it with courage and humility and appreciate every moment.”Potter believes he is the best version of himself after his much-needed break. Only time will tell if his spell at West Ham will be his best one yet.(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
