It has been a difficult few weeks for Head Coach Graham Potter, his staff, players and West Ham United supporters.
The Hammers are now winless in seven Premier League matches after conceding two goals in the final five minutes to turn a potential morale-boosting victory into a disappointing defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Irons looked to have been rewarded for their positive response to falling behind when Mohammed Kudus and Tomáš Souček scored second-half goals at Amex Stadium, only for Kaoru Mitoma’s header and Carlos Baleba’s added-time curler to leave Potter and everyone associated with the east Londoners feeling immense frustration.
West Ham have now conceded four goals in the 89th minute or later in the last three matches, leading to the loss of five Premier League points and leaving Potter’s side 17th in the table.
Understandably, the disappointment and frustration was felt from the stands too, where the passionate travelling supporters thought they would have a welcome win to celebrate when Souček dived in to power home Jarrod Bowen’s cross.
But it was not to be as Mitoma and Baleba – scoring Brighton’s second long-range goal of the game following Yasin Ayari’s stunning first-half opener – instead sent the Brighton supporters home happy.
For Potter, it was yet another tough proverbial pill to swallow, as he admitted when he spoke to West Ham TV…
Unfortunately, the game is not 85 minutes.
The game is 95 minutes or 100 minutes and so, yeah, I can talk about the positives, but I can assure you I don’t feel anything positive at the moment because the feeling is incredibly tough and the players can feel it as well.
[They and we as staff are] devastated in the dressing room and they’re finding it hard to understand because they did a lot well.
But we’re in the middle of a bad season where lots of things have gone wrong. There are lots of things have gone against us and not been quite good enough. And sometimes when you’re in those moments, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, so it’s a cruel one for us.
There were two [Brighton] goals from 30-plus metres, and it doesn’t happen very often [but] we have to look at ourselves.
We switched off at the last corner and they’re able to take a corner and then you’ve got a player of Baleba’s quality from that distance and you leave yourself vulnerable to it.
So, there’s always things we can do better.
[We are preparing the team, working hard, but losing]. That’s football – that’s the beauty of football and it’s the pain of football.
We’re certainly feeling the pain at the moment. In the end, we all have to do better – myself, the players, we have to try to fight all the way to the end to get the points.
There’s no lack of effort from the lads. There isn’t. Whether they’re able to sustain it for the 95-plus minutes, whatever it is, that’s another question.
But we have to acknowledge we’re hurting and we want to win. We want to do better than we are.
There’s a difference between feeling positive and acknowledging the positives.
I absolutely acknowledge the positives because the performance was in large part really good.
But it’s hard for me to stand here and take comfort from that at the moment because it’s painful.
I have my moments [when I rant and rave].
It’s not for me to say who hurts more, but I can assure you, there are not many human beings that will be feeling more pain than me at the moment about a football match.
So, I understand the supporters’ frustration. I understand that, absolutely and yes, it’s tough for us all.
