Graham Potter is not the only West Ham United employee who Alan Pardew had some sympathy for after Saturday’s 3-0 blitzing by Premier League and London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
A poor start to the season went from bad to worse at the London Stadium. After conceding five goals in 43 minutes against Chelsea, Tottenham scored three times in just 17 minutes. A 17 minute spell in which Tomas Soucek saw red for a reckless challenge on Joao Palhinha.
Pape Matar Sarr broke West Ham United’s resolve just moments into the second half.
Soucek exited stage left only seven minutes later. Sent for an early bath, the Czech colossus had barely turned on the taps before Lucas Bergvall doubled the visitors’ lead with a towering header. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Kyle Walker-Peters allowed Bergvall to drift in between them before looping his finish over a helpless Hermansen.
And when Micky van de Ven swept in a third, the game was over as a contest.
Yet, while Soucek’s 54th minute dismissal wrecked any Hammers hopes of a derby day comeback, Alan Pardew could not help but feel some sympathy for a footballer who does not have a vindictive bone in his body.
Alan Pardew ‘felt so sorry’ for Tomas Soucek after West Ham United collapse against Tottenham
This was only Soucek’s second career red card, and his first in half-a-decade.
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As the ball ran loose, his was less of a challenge and more a desperate attempt to retrieve possession. Palhinha got their first, however. And when Soucek’s studs tore through the Portugal international’s shin pad, referee Jarred Gillett could only really make one decision.
“When I was West Ham manager, the most emotional game in the calendar was Spurs. There are so many derbies but this is more than a London derby,” recalls Pardew, speaking to talkSPORT. “A big emotional game.
“And not only do you lose 3-0, you get a guy sent off. Soucek, I felt so sorry for him. [The ball] runs away and he tries to retrieve it, and then it’s a high tackle and he’s off.
“But then Potter is on the sidelines. Every set play, it looks like they are going to score. We’re getting out-thought, and that comes back to you as a manager.”
The only positive, as Spurs started to pop the ball around to a chorus of ‘oles’ from the travelling support, is that most of the home fans were no longer present to see it.
“When you are down to ten men, you’ve got this opposition which the fans despise and they are passing it around, getting ‘oles’,” sighs Pardew, who spent three years at Upton Park from 2003 to 2006.
“Is [Potter] in a difficult position? Absolutely. Are West Ham fans a little bit rebellious against him and the board? Yes. So, there is a lot of bad feeling there, that needs to be addressed somehow.
“I thought that win at Forest might have given them a little bit of a lift [but] the international break could not have come at a worse time for Potter.”
Pardew explains the difficulty caused by international breaks
While Niclas Fullkrug picked up a calf injury on Germany duty – he was passed fit only for a role on the bench – Hermansen, Mavropanos, Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and the aforementioned Soucek returned to East London later than Potter would have ideally liked with such a high-pressure fixture to prepare for.
“I just want to give you a little bit of insight into that, as a Premier League manager. You are getting your players back Thursday night and sometimes Friday, but you don’t know how much work they’ve done. The international teams sometimes give you no information,” adds former Newcastle, West Brom and Crystal Palace coach Pardew.
“It is very difficult [to prepare]. Sometimes, you see strange selections after an international window because you want to pick players you’ve been working with on the training ground.”
Pardew also feels that West Ham are paying the price for a difficult transfer window.
While captain Jarrod Bowen argues the Hammers ‘recruited well’ in the end, Hermansen has endured a nightmare start in goal, Callum Wilson arrived without a pre-season, and midfield duo Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou have made only one start between them after being made to wait until the end of August for their moves to be completed.
“The transfer window that they’ve just had has been a bit of a let-down in my opinion,” Pardew hits back. “They really needed to do some work in that and, if I was [Potter], I’d be disappointed with what I’ve been given.
“I’d have expected a little bit more investment. I think West Ham fans feel that as well.
“He’s got Bowen, a player who can get him out of trouble in terms of quality. A real top drawer quality. You’re blessed with that, I think there’s a good base there, some decent quality. But they don’t look like they’re going to threaten the top of the league for sure.
“The one thing that Potter is going to worry about is threatening the bottom of the league.”