Graham Potter insists he can’t wait to step out at London Stadium as West Ham United Head Coach for the first time when Fulham travel across the capital for a mouthwatering Premier League clash on Tuesday night.
The Hammers’ new boss oversaw a narrow defeat away at Aston Villa in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup on Friday, little over 24 hours after the confirmation of his appointment, and is now looking forward to his first dose of league action in the home dugout.
The Irons welcome Marco Silva’s Cottagers to E20 planning to bounce back following Premier League defeats by Liverpool and Manchester City, which ended a four-match unbeaten run and ultimately Julen Lopetegui’s own spell as Head Coach.
Fulham themselves have been in fine form. Tuesday’s visitors are on a nine-match unbeaten run in all competitions, including a win over Chelsea and draws with Arsenal and Liverpool, and arrive having dismissed Watford 4-1 in the FA Cup third round last Thursday evening.
An enticing match-up awaits, then, and as the countdown to kick-off continues, Potter sat down with the gathered press on Monday afternoon to discuss his handful of training sessions at Rush Green, strengthening the team’s connection with the supporters, his thoughts on Fulham and ongoing injury issues…
Preparing as a collective
There’s lots for us to consider in terms of selections for Tuesday night, particularly with some of the injuries we’ve picked up and are dealing with.
We just need to make sure the team is organised, competitive and ready to play against a team that is performing well under Marco Silva.
Encouraging sessions behind the scenes
The response from the players since I have come in has been really good. The approach has been top, and the attitude has been great.
Everyone has been open-minded to new ideas, and enthusiastic about trying to connect with each other. I think we all recognise that it’s been a tough period for everybody, and we all want to focus on being a team.
Exciting occasion
I’m really excited for Tuesday night. The fans’ support at Villa Park on Friday was brilliant - the way they got behind the team, and supported Ollie Scarles, was really nice.
The supporters have always been incredibly loyal, and behind the team. As an away manager London Stadium is a tough place to come, so we need to build and utilise that connection between the crowd and the players.
To do that we have to field a team that the supporters can identify with, and that they believe and trust in. That connection is so important, and though we’re at the early stages of it now, hopefully we can build it through good performances and results.
Tough Cottagers challenge
I think Marco Silva has done a fantastic job at Fulham, earning promotion with them from the Championship and then developing the team and the club.
They have had key players move on - such as Aleksandar Mitrović and João Palhinha - but because they’ve got a strong team, and strong ideas, they’ve been able to deal with that. I think that’s a good example for anybody.
They’ve got a lot of options, and they cross the ball really well. They get down the flanks well, and have a dangerous centre forward in the box, and the table shows that they’re a really good side.
Nurturing young talent
I think utilising the Academy is something that’s a central part of this Club. The Academy has sone some fantastic work over the years, including winning the FA Youth Cup a couple of seasons ago, which suggests there are good players and good staff here.
I think our supporters like to see players from the Academy pushing into the first team, and I think it can help us in terms of how we identify players and how we think about recruitment. I think the starting point should always be to look at what we’ve already got here.
I’m really looking forward to building my relationships with the likes of Mark Noble and Mark Robson, and all of us working together to make our youth system a big part of what we’re doing here.
Winter transfer business
We’ve got different attacking options, and there are players coming back as well, so my focus at the moment is on my team and how to get everything functioning as well as possible.
There is a certain logic to do something, but we wouldn’t want to make the wrong decision or do something for the sake of it, especially in this window which can be very complicated.
I won’t speak about anybody until they’re a West Ham player. We’ve got lots of good players here, and they’re my focus at the moment.
