Graham Potter

Potter | The effort and the willingness to fight for each other was certainly there

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West Ham United Head Coach Graham Potter was full of praise for his side after they scrapped their way to a thrilling 3-2 win over Fulham in his first home game as the Club’s new boss on Tuesday night.

The Irons did not have it all their own way against the Cottagers, but emerged triumphant thanks to a mixture of clinical finishing, committed defending and their desire not to be beaten.

After weathering a strong Fulham start, West Ham took control of the contest with a quickfire brace of goals just past the half-hour.

The first came about as a result of their intensity in the press, with Edson Álvarez forcing a loose pass from Andreas Pereira that allowed Carlos Soler to pounce. The second, meanwhile, was a fine team effort with Lucas Paquetá, Mohammed Kudus, Soler and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all involved before Tomáš Souček knocked home.

Although Alex Iwobi twice cut the Hammers’ advantage after the break - with Paquetá’s ultimately vital third in between - it was West Ham who were able to celebrate at full-time, leaving Potter thrilled to get off the mark with his new Club.

 

It feels brilliant, it really does. 

Three points, a very, very committed performance. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but the attitude and the effort and the willingness to fight for each other was certainly there.

It's a great foundation for us to build on. We can improve on lots of things, but I'm delighted with the three points. 

It was great, it was stressful, it was exciting, it was frustrating. It was all those emotions, but that's what we're here for
Graham Potter

Credit to Fulham - they started well and we couldn't quite get the pressure on. 

We ended up a little bit passive. I think we needed to get the crowd [up] and we needed to get more into some duels and some contact with them.

So we moved Mo [Kudus] a little bit up and he helped us. Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] was more aggressive. Konstantinos [Mavropanos] was aggressive.

So they were really, really good, and I think that helped us get a couple of goals in the first half. That was a nice foundation to start the game as well.

There was lot of work to do in the second half but, yeah, we're just really happy.

 

We need to do better with the goals we conceded.

Overall, the players defended quite well, but we need to do better in the box. 

They had some opportunities as well. We rode our luck a little bit, but at the same time, I thought we forced the errors [that led to our first and third goals]. 

We were proactive with our pressing. We were proactive with our defensive idea to try and create some chances.

 

I felt like at 2-1, I didn't think the game was going to be won by us playing really nice football. I thought it was going to be a bit of a scrap and it was about pressure and it was about being together. 

Danny [Ings] coming on probably helped us with that, even though it's a tough one because Mo's a top, top player.

But he was really suffering, Mo, I thought, from a tiredness perspective after a massive game against Aston Villa. 

So, he's going to be important for us on Saturday. It’s going to be time to recover now and get ready for another big game.

Graham Potter celebrates at full-time against Fulham

After the game I said to the players who came off the bench that I thought their attitude and application was fantastic. 

Everybody wants to start the game, but actually the guys that finish the game are so important for us. They need to hit the ground running, they need to pick up the speed of the game, they need to come on with the right attitude and they all did that.

So, I'm really, really pleased with that.

 

It was lots of everything tonight. 

It was great, it was stressful, it was exciting, it was frustrating. It was all those emotions, but that's what we're here for.

I have to say a big thank you to the supporters who got behind the team. A brilliant welcome, so I'm really, really looking forward to developing the team and taking more points.

 

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