Graham Potter might not have enjoyed seeing West Ham United fall to pieces in yet another Premier League match, but a few standout individual displays at least provide some semblance of hope.
To think, before they suffered the quadruple whammy of Tomas Soucek’s red card and a trio of Spurs goals in the space of just 17 ruinous second-half minutes, there was a lot to be positive about at the London Stadium.
Lucas Paqueta had a glorious chance to give West Ham United the lead after some typically purposeful stuff from Mateus Fernandes.
El Hadji Malick Diouf whipped in one of his trademark crosses, while Kyle Walker-Peters justified his continued involvement over Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the other flank.
And though all that good work would be undone – Mads Hermansen conceded from another set-piece as Pape Sarr gave Spurs the lead moments after the interval and Tomas Soucek’s red card killed the match as a contest – Graham Potter feels that there were at least a few performances worth building upon.
Graham Potter praises five West Ham United players despite Tottenham Hotspur defeat
The front four of Paqueta, Fernandes, Jarrod Bowen and particularly Crysencio Summerville carried plenty of promise and a fair amount of threat, capably supported by West Ham’s two new full-backs.
Soungoutou Magassa’s eye-catching cameo also came at a pretty good time, given that Soucek will be unavailable for upcoming clashes with Crystal Palace, Everton and Arsenal.
“I thought [the forwards] were supported well with Kyle Walker-Peters on the right, and supported well with Malick Diouf on the left,” Potter tells the club’s official website.
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“Mateus was good, coming back from international duty was not easy for him. It was Cry’s first start and there’s positives there that Malik was really good, that Soungou did well in difficult circumstances when he came on.
“Kyle, I thought played well, so there were individuals that were there. But it’s difficult to say that because the scoreline is what it is and we’re all hurting from that.”
Potter feels West Ham can build on first-half display despite 3-0 loss
For Potter, the biggest frustration is that Tottenham barely created an opening of note before Sarr found himself with the freedom of East London at the back post.
And while he was still one of the better performers on the day, former Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola was less than impressed with Walker-Peters’ positioning as Lucas Bergvall deepened the gloom moments after Soucek’s red card.
“I don’t think Tottenham’s chances against us created too much at all,” Potter argues. They had pressure and set-pieces which is what we had to deal with and again I thought we dealt with them well until the start of the second-half when we made a mistake,”
“And that’s again the level, the detail, the margins and then we went 1-0 behind and quickly went down to ten men. The game changed at that point and then it’s an uncomfortable second half for us, there’s no doubt.
“We want to give our supporters more but, when the scoreline was what it was, it was a difficult evening for the boys.
“We’ve played two games at home against the World Club champions [Chelsea] and another team that’s also in the Champions League, so there’s quality against us. Nevertheless, we’re disappointed because we wanted to do better, we wanted to have more points.
“For the first half, I thought it was a decent performance. There were lots of positives in the first half and that’s the painful thing because the scoreline in the end is completely unpleasant for us.
“But at the same time there were glimpses of positivity, I thought, especially in the first half. Like I said, the second half, the game goes away from us so quickly and that’s the level and we have to learn from that. Like I said, the first half is what we have to focus on and remain positive.”