00:00West Ham are into the new season under Graham Potter with a degree of caution as questions
00:08linger over whether the squad is strong enough to push on after a turbulent summer. Recruitment
00:15has been patchy with some key areas still lacking depth despite the addition of several
00:20younger players aimed at reshaping the squad for the long term. The loss of influential
00:26figures has left gaps and will not be easy to fill and Potter faces the challenges of
00:30blending new signings with an experienced core that has endured mixed results in recent
00:36years. Supporters are hopeful that Potter's reputation for tactical structure and player
00:41development can bring stability but there's also realism about the size of the task.
00:47To get more insight on the Hammers situation we spoke to James Jones of London World and
00:53he pointed out the uncertainty surrounding whether Potter can implement his ideas quickly
00:59enough and highlighted the concern that the squad may not yet have the quality or depth
01:05to comfortably handle the challenges of the season ahead.
01:11Yeah I mean when the Premier League predictions start to pile in a lot of people sort of look
01:17at the table and you know because of the last two seasons of all the promoted sides getting
01:21relegated straight away you feel that there is probably three teams again worse off than
01:26the likes of your Wolves and West Ham maybe and these are the guys who hopefully are going
01:31to avoid that. So what's sort of the goal this season for Graham Potter you know because
01:35it is quite upsetting really as a West Ham fan to maybe say that it is to avoid the drop
01:42but then if you look at their squad on paper it is still there's still some very very high quality
01:47players with plenty of Premier League experience in there you know it obviously just depends
01:51massively on things like you know the home form and injury records and stuff like that
01:56to kick in. So where do you see Graham Potter approaching this season? What's he going to
02:00be looking at realistically for the Hammers this season?
02:04Well I think we have to stay realistic this season. There will be fans out there no doubt that
02:09we'll be demanding a top eight finish, top seven finish, European qualification and a cup run
02:16because we were only there two or three years ago under David Moyes but realistically given the
02:22amount of work that Graham Potter has needed to do and still needs to do with this squad to get it
02:28to really where he wants it to be we can't we can't really go into the season expecting any more
02:34than probably mid-table you know 10th the length or 12th is probably should be seen as a good campaign
02:41it's underwhelming given where we were two or three years ago but it's an improvement on last season
02:47no doubt and if we have a season where we're looking over our shoulders you know we're worried about
02:54getting sucked into a relegation battle you know we're going on runs you know five six games of
02:57losing of defeats in the trial then that immediately puts the pressure on Graham Potter and the like it is
03:03that he eventually loses his job and then we're back to square one again then we bring in another manager
03:06in mid-season and then next summer we're having the same conversation going okay well he needs
03:12to bring in his own players we need to be patient we need to be realistic so ideally this season should
03:17be all about just almost consolidating ourselves as a in the mid-table of the Premier League picking up
03:23some good wins along the way performances are good and consistent as consistent as they can be
03:28and then next summer you go again and then you can start thinking oh you know if we bring in the
03:32right players last season was okay there were good signs of improvement bringing the right players
03:37and we can get further improvement and then we can start maybe being again being in that conversation
03:41of potentially pushing into the top seven or top eight of the Premier League I think this year is
03:46should really be about consolidation don't be in a relegation battle don't be in a position where
03:53there's talk about Graham Potter's future and then that way then we can really push on he gets the time
04:00and you know a couple more transfer windows to really work on this work on his project
04:05and we're having a season where we're not petrified of dropping into the championship
04:11so so yeah that's where that's the way I see it I just I'm not going into this season expecting
04:18or demanding anything other than mid-table if we get it great bonus and if we don't get it
04:24um then as long as it's not bottom five and we're worried and we're concerned for nine months then
04:32um I'll probably look back on it as is it being a pretty decent campaign
04:36it hasn't been as as terrible that as a lot of West Ham fans were fearing maybe two or three months ago
04:43yeah
04:57yeah
05:05yeah
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