Formed by Hammers supporters Jack Elderton and Callum Goodall to offer their fellow fans in-depth but accessible analysis of their team and its players, Analytics United use performance analysis and data to examine how West Ham United could play under new Head Coach Graham Potter...
Graham Potter is an English coach with a fascinating career path, who arrives at the London Stadium after stints in Sweden and Wales with Östersund and Swansea City before stepping up to the Premier League with Brighton and Chelsea.
Known for his commitment to a possession-dominant style, Potter’s philosophy revolves around controlling the game and squeezing the opposition through territorial dominance, with the ultimate aim of creating enough chances to win. At its best, his approach can also utilise a high-intensity pressing game that limits the opposition to a small number of low-quality chances.
What’s perhaps most intriguing about Potter’s methods is his unorthodox approach to team-building which saw his Östersund side stage their own performance of the ballet, Swan Lake. Few questions can be asked about these techniques in hindsight, as they helped the then Swedish minnows secure back-to-back promotions as Potter lifted them from the fourth tier of Swedish football to the top-flight in his first five years at the club. From there, they went on to win the equivalent of the FA Cup in Sweden, qualified for the Europa League, and achieved a famous 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates in 2018.
Potter’s best work in the Premier League came at Brighton, where he developed a crop of supremely talented young players and guided the club to mid-table stability after a period battling relegation under Chris Hughton.
In this time, he handed debuts to standout talents like Moisés Caicedo (now at Chelsea), Alexis Mac Allister (now at Liverpool), and Ben White (now at Arsenal). However, he wasn’t simply a beneficiary of Brighton’s exceptional recruitment of talented youngsters from across the globe. Potter also promoted homegrown talents like Evan Ferguson and Jeremy Sarmiento, both of whom are now established internationals for Ireland and Ecuador, while pulling goalkeeper Robert Sánchez from relative obscurity, trusting him to play a crucial role in his team’s success.
These elements could work brilliantly at West Ham, where a wave of talented young players is emerging from the FA Youth Cup-winning group of 2023. With infrastructure behind the scenes in key recruitment and development roles, Potter could be the Head Coach to bring it all together.
Delving deeper into his tactical approach, it’s clear that Potter was ahead of the curve in introducing box midfields to the Premier League. While managers like Antonio Conte, Nuno Espírito Santo and Pep Guardiola have all been involved in the latest development of this system, Potter popularised a reimagined iteration with greater flexibility and rotations. This shift, moving away from the more rigid back-three setups employed by other managers, allowed Potter to take more risks with the profiles used in central midfield and find better solutions for the players at his disposal.
Rather than imposing strict formations on his players, Potter has always shown a great degree of adaptability when it comes to shape, if not style. This was facilitated by that more rotational approach to creating numerical superiority in central areas, aiding his side’s ability to progress and circulate play in pursuit of ball dominance. It has also always left him well-positioned to work with busy recruitment departments, tinkering his shape to help develop and get the best out of all the players in his squad.
Despite the continual changes to shape that Potter made at both Brighton and Chelsea, there are certain elements of his squads that have remained more consistent. A prime example of this is his use of wing-backs, where he’s often sought to have at least one player capable of working the entire flank alone. Whether this was Tariq Lamptey at Brighton or Ben Chilwell at Chelsea, Potter has regularly looked to his wing-backs to provide relentless energy both in and out of possession, while also contributing creatively in the final third. Other constants in his approach include the use of technically-gifted and energetic midfielders, press-resistant centre-backs, and a preference for a ball-playing goalkeeper.
Though the West Ham squad may not contain all the ideal profiles for Potter’s system, his tactical flexibility and inclination to look to the youth for solutions could allow this highly gifted group to perform to their best more consistently. Additionally, players like Lucas Paquetá, Maximilian Kilman and Jarrod Bowen should find themselves at home under a manager that has previously worked with and improved similar players like Alexis Mac Allister, Lewis Dunk and Leandro Trossard.
To find a blueprint for how Potter might mould his West Ham team, we can look back to his time at Swansea, where Potter often employed a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 system, with left-back Kyle Naughton drifting inside while right-back Connor Roberts pushed forward to join the attack. These relationships somewhat resemble those seen at Fulham with Kenny Tete and Antonee Robinson, or even Liverpool with Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Whether it's a full-back inverting into midfield or narrowing to form a back three, this approach creates overloads in attack with five players on the last line, something many Premier League teams want to create.
Importantly, Potter’s previous use of a 4-4-2 also aligns well with the dominant defensive strategies that have emerged in the Premier League to counteract the numerical superiorities and central overloads seen in the modern 3-box-3 or 3-2-5 attacking shape. Managers like Arne Slot and Nuno Espírito Santo have adjusted this 4-4-2 shape into more of a 4-2-4 to better protect the flanks and limit access to wide attackers and such a change seems subtle for a manager that has consistently shown incredible versatility throughout his managerial career.
A 4-4-2 formation could ease the creative burden on West Ham's full-backs, with just one getting forward while a winger holds the width and creates on the opposite flank. This shape could also get the best out of Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen in the same team whilst also stopping Edson Álvarez and Guido Rodríguez from having to drop into the backline, avoiding the risk of being exposed to pacy attackers in transition.
Potter’s arrival in East London signals the start of an exciting new era for West Ham. The potential to develop young players into stars could be revitalised, and a more dominant, dynamic style could finally be implemented. Ultimately, fans will be hoping this move better connects style, ambition, and pragmatism, ensuring points on the board quickly whilst building a deeper connection between the supporters and the team for the future.
*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Analytics United and do not necessarily reflect the views opinions of West Ham United.
