Graham Potter's West Ham 'pre-season': His 'world-class' winger, attacking trident - and 'fighting mentality'
Updated 27/02/2025 at 12:09 GMT
In a wide-ranging sitdown with TNT Sports, Graham Potter has reflected on his first six weeks in charge of West Ham. The ex-Brighton and Chelsea boss oversaw a signature victory over Arsenal on February 22, igniting a reign that had hitherto shown pockets of promise. Potter expanded on the "world-class" winger at his disposal and how his previous managerial roles can help him deliver success.
Potter feels West Ham should not have a ‘ceiling’ – ‘We should have ambition’
Video credit: TNT Sports
Graham Potter has called on his players to "fight for everything" as he seeks to build on the early promise of his reign at West Ham.
Potter, with just over six weeks in the Hammers hot-seat, saw his team deliver the standout performance of his tenure so far with a belligerent, brave 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend.
Next up is a clash with struggling Leicester at the London Stadium on Thursday night, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Sitting down with TNT Sports at West Ham's Rush Green Training Ground, Potter delved into his tenure so far, including his view of the potent attacking trident of Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Evan Ferguson and how his past experiences can help deliver success for the club.
"The board is really ambitious," Potter says. "Clearly, so they should be, because we’re at West Ham.
"They also understand the season that we’ve had, in terms of myself coming in halfway through and all that comes with that.
"So we just need to focus, from my perspective, on the next match, and try and take as many points as we can. That should be our ambition, to try to win the next game and see where that takes us.
"There are a lot of points to play for, a lot of games, every game in the Premier League is hard-fought, there are no free games, there are no easy wins, so you’ve got to fight for everything, and I think that’s a good mentality for us to have going forward."
Potter's rounded career is well-documented, from his Swedish success story with Ostersunds FK, to a homecoming with a trio of British clubs - Swansea, Brighton and Chelsea - before joining West Ham.
The Englishman, who - in his pre-Leicester press conference - said these first six weeks at the club were tantamount to his "pre-season", hopes his varied club-building experiences can help him bring a successful era to East London.
"When we arrived at Brighton, the team was fourth from bottom, hadn’t sold a player, and had signed players that didn’t really work out," Potter said.
"By the time we finished, Brighton was a well-run club, but at the time we went in there, it wasn’t as functioning as it is maybe now.
"So that process, and being able to go from there, is of course some valuable experiences.
"Every club’s different, every club brings its own challenges, every context is different, but from all my experiences hopefully, from Ostersunds to Swansea to Brighton to Chelsea, a long time as a football manager, hopefully I’ve learnt quite a lot and experienced quite a lot so that I can - not necessarily copy - but apply them to this context and then do what’s right for West Ham in the end."
KUDUS 'DOES THINGS NORMAL PLAYERS CAN'T'
One player helping Potter's settling-in period is Mohammed Kudus.
The Ghanaian looked unplayable at times against The Gunners from a nominal left-sided position, with his skill, movement and dribbling regularly troubling one of the best defences in the league.
And the season stats so far - courtesy of Opta - show how favourably his devastating ball-carrying compares to the rest of the top flight.
Kudus 24/25 stats*
| Number | PL rank | |
| Dribbles attempted | 133 | 1st |
| Dribbles completed | 64 | 1st |
| Fouls won | 43 | =8th |
*correct as of 25 Feb
Potter couldn't hide his admiration for what he has seen so far from Kudus.
"His potential is enormous. He’s an unbelievable talent, unbelievable potential," the 49-year-old said. "His high-end actions are world-class, there’s no doubt.
"For me, it’s just to help him understand his role in the team, understand the responsibility he has, how we will attack as a team and how we defend as a team and his role within that.
"But he does things that normal players can’t do, which is an unbelievable quality to have.
"Then it’s about fitting that into the team and helping him enjoy his football. I think if he’s enjoying his football, then you just see a player that can take us to another level."
Kudus' ability to get his team up the pitch is perhaps a factor behind some encouraging tactical data since Potter took charge.
West Ham stats since Jan 9
| Number | Rank | |
| Possession won final 1/3 | 32 | 3rd |
| High turnovers | 56 | 4th |
| Goals from high turnovers | 2 | =3rd |
Potter - who admitted to being surprised at going viral after the win over Arsenal - shed some light on how he plans to use Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and loan arrival Evan Ferguson together in attack.
"I think we can use all of those guys depending on what’s required," he said.
"They all give us something different, but they’ve all got really good attributes and they’re all fantastic players and ready to help the team.
"Ferguson, we have to remember, is still building up his minutes on the pitch and training time because he’s not been training and playing that regularly recently, so we have to make sure that we do the right thing for him.
"But at the same time, he’s ready and it’s great to have those options."
For a club of this size and potential - West Ham were recently ranked 17th in the world for revenue generation - how does Potter view the challenge ahead longer-term?
"That pressure; it’s excitement, it’s opportunity, it’s potential, it’s why you do the job, it’s why we’re here.
"So the challenge now is to try and align the resources that we have, because clearly we have a lot going for us.
"That’s not to say better or worse than anybody else, but we have a lot going for us, and we have to make sure that we use that as well as we can.
"And if we do that, then we can be really excited about what we can achieve."
When is West Ham v Leicester?
West Ham host Leicester in the Premier League on Thursday, February 27.
Kick-off is at 20:00 UK time, with live coverage on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+ starting from 19:00.
How to watch West Ham v Leicester
TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms, offering a line-up of up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), and up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), and TNT Sports Ultimate plus TNT Sports Box Office HD.
West Ham v Leicester will be live on TNT Sports 1 with coverage from 19:00 UK time on Thursday, February 27, ahead of kick-off at 20:00.
You can subscribe to TNT Sports through discovery+, BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.
To find out where your local establishments showing TNT Sports are, use our Pub Finder tool.
Related Topics
Thoughts?
Advertisement
Advertisement