Another defeat at home…
…for West Hame: 1-2 against Crystal Palace. Under pressure manager Graham Potter has now only won six of his 23 league games and picked up 23 points since replacing Julen Lopetegui in January. The Spaniard also collected 23 points from his spell at the London Stadium, but did so in three fewer games.
Earlier on Saturday, about 3,000 Hammers fans protested before the match, with angry supporters holding flags and banners and chanting about chairman David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady.
Their mood was more disgruntled than disruptive, gloomy than revolutionary, Jim White wrote in The Telegraph; their ire directed at the board and their decision, 10 years ago this season, to relocate from the beloved Boleyn Ground to the entirely unloved London Stadium. They plan to escalate their actions by boycotting the next home game on October 20. Given it is another London derby against Brentford, the call to stay away may well be widely heeded.
The Hammers team had looked better early in the second half at London Stadium and drew level after having been behind at the break, but offered very little once Crystal Palace retook the lead. For the third home game in succession, West Ham have lost to a London rival. And while this was not as embarrassing as the submissions to Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, it was nonetheless a loss that demonstrated that much is going wrong at the club, and of course mounted the pressure on Graham Potter.
West Ham have not won a Premier League game in front of their own supporters since 27 February and have lost all three home matches this season to London rivals Chelsea, Tottenham and Crystal Palace.
Despite defeat, manger Graham Potter described his side’s performance against Palace as “spirited”. “It’s tough, the results are not what we want at all,” the former Chelsea and Brighton boss told Match of the Day.”
“I feel for the players, supporters, everybody connected with the club. We have to stick together and find a solution.”
West Ham fans chanted “sacked in the morning” at Potter during the latest home defeat.
A message from the Board
West Ham’s Board have reacted regarding the fan protests and the “vote of no confidence” which was written by the official WHU Fans’ Advisory Board and other Supporters organisations two weeks ago.
The Board published a Message to all West Ham supporters in which they assured the West Ham faithful that “regular top-half finishes, strong domestic cup runs, and qualification for European competition remain the goals we are working towards”.
The Board emphasised that “West Ham were entering our 14th consecutive season in the Premier League – our longest unbroken top-flight run in the modern era” – but agreed that the supporters were right to have spoken of the need for greater ambition than our position of the past two seasons.
“We know we must do better to deliver more consistently“, the Board wrote and concluded:
“We are proud of our history and our loyal supporter base, and we remain committed to building a Club that reflects both. We look forward to continuing dialogue with the FAB, among other direct channels of communications with our fanbase, and we encourage all supporters to remain engaged as we move forward together.
“The Club would like to place on record its thanks and appreciation to all of our fans, in the UK and all over the world, for their continued backing of West Ham United and the role that they have played in helping us to become one of the biggest and best-supported football clubs in the world.“
▶️ www.whufc.com/message-supporters
It remains to be seen if this message will be – though I doubt it is – enough to stop the protests which have already been announced and prepared for the next two home games against Crystal Palace (20 September) and Brentford (20 October).
Well, these words are one thing, the other thing is that words must be followed by deeds and that the team’s performance will improve. If Graham Potter manages to significantly improve his team’s performances and results in the next few games, the negative mood around West Ham could change – but can we be optimistic in this respect? Crystal Palace, the Hammers’ opponent on Saturday, are unbeaten in 16 games now.
Rapid top, West Ham down
Der SK Rapid unter Trainer Peter Stöger ist erfolgreich in die Saison gestartet und fuhr am Sonntag mit 4:1 endlich auch einen klaren – nicht nur knappen – Sieg ein, mit dem man weiterhin an der Tabellenspitze der österreichischen Bundesliga steht. Während die Stimmung in Hütteldorf sehr gut ist, schaut es in der Premier League für West Ham ganz anders aus:
Vier Spiele, 1 Sieg, 0 Remis, drei – ziemlich heftige – Niederlagen (0:3, 1:5, 0:3) und saisonübergreifend seit sieben Spielen kein Sieg mehr im – bei den Fans daher immer unbeliebteren – London Stadium. Für die nächsten Heimspiele sind Proteste gegen Chairman und Vize Sullivan/Brady geplant.
Ich bin selbst so sauer über diesen nun schon länger andauernden Abstieg, der nach dem Conference League-Sieg 2023 begonnen hat, dass ich bei unserer nächsten London-Reise zur selben Zeit, zu der West Ham spielen wird, Konzerttickets für die Royal Albert Hall gekauft habe!
Dieser Artikel im Telegraph bringt die Stimmung in East London auf den Punkt:
Dabei geht es allerdings anderen Teams nach vier Spielen auch nicht besser, und allein dem Punktestand nach ist noch nicht viel passiert! Es ist aber die Art und Weise, wie man verliert (siehe unten).
Und das fehlende Vertrauen in das Board und auch schon in Manager Potter ist es, das die Fans bereits am Beginn dieser Saison depressiv und wütend werden lässt und die Befürchtung nährt, dass der Klub absteigen könnte, wenn sich nix ändert….
IN and OUT at West Ham
The Hammers and manager Graham Potter have spent £125 million on eight new signings in the summer transfer window, adding to their attack, midfield and defence. But West Ham have also seen eleven departures this summer, including a major one.
IN: Mateus Fernandes (from Southampton), Jean-Clair Todibo (loan-signing from Nice made permanent), El Hadji Diouf (Slavia Prague), Mads Hermansen (Leicester City), Soungoutou Magassa (Monaco), Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton), Callum Wilson (Newcastle Utd.), Igor Julio (Brighton – loan)
OUT: Mohammed Kudus (Spurs), Nayef Aguerd, Emerson (both Marseile), Vladimir Coufal (Hoffenheim), Aaron Cresswell (Stoke), Danny Ings (Sheffield Utd.), Edson Alvarez (Fehnerbace), Maxwel Cornet (Genoa), Lewis Orford (Stevenage), Junior Robinson (Livington).
Bowen, Paquetá, Wilson 3-0
West Ham’s first win of the season: three goals (Jarrod Bowen 84′, Lucas Paquetá 88′ [penalty], Callum Wilson 91′) and a clean sheet, the Hammers win 3-0 away at Nottingham Forest! ⚒️
Hours after West Ham rejected an Aston Villa bid for Lucas Paqueta, he responded with the perfect celebration. 🤩
When asked to give his thoughts about it on talkSPORT, Hammers boss Graham Potter had this to say:
“You can see a really committed, professional performance from someone that cares about his team and cares about his teammates. So I’m really proud of him for what he did…
“He’s a West Ham player and I’m sure he will be for a long time.” 💪
Going nowhere. ⛔
West Ham: 1 Mads Hermansen; 12 El Hadji Malick Diouf; 3 Maximilian Kilman, 15 Konstantinos Mavropanos, 2 Kyle Walker-Peters; 8 James Ward-Prowse (39 A. Irving 75′), 28 Tomás Soucek, 18 Mateus Fernandes (7 C. Summerville 82′), 10 Lucas Paquetá; 20 Jarrod Bowen, 11 Niclas Füllkrug (9 C. Wilson 64′)
Austrian Irons on tour
Rapid in der Ligaphase!
Mit einem 2:0 (1:0)-Heimsieg konnte der SK Rapid trotz der 1:2-Auswärtsniederlage aus dem Hinspiel das Play-off gegen Györ für sich entscheiden und qualifizierte sich für die Ligaphase der Conference League. Doppelter Torschütze in Hütteldorf: Claudy Mbuyi.
Das sind die Spieltermine des SK Rapid in der Conference League:
EXTRA TIME 
Recent Comments