West Ham United appointed Graham Potter as our new head coach last week on Thursday.
Graham Potter clearly made an instant impression on the West Ham players, if Friday night’s performance against Aston Villa was anything to go by.
Potter has already made it clear that he’s on the hunt for some new signings in the January window.
And the 49-year-old Hammers head coach absolutely has to bolster his ranks at the London Stadium, if he is to succeed.
West Ham are very weak in so many departments after some incredibly poor squad building over the past few years.
The onus is on Potter to change that, improve us as a team, and to move on some of the deadwood this winter.
In order to spend in the January window, Potter must trim the wage-bill at the London Stadium.
The Hammers are paying far too many below average players extortionate salaries, and one man in particular is a sad reminder of that statement.
What Graham Potter said after Villa sends message to £12m man
I’m convinced that a bright future is lying in wait for us with Potter as the helm.
And I truly believe that he needs to strip the squad of some of the dead weight that has been dragging us down recently, if he is to fulfil his potential in charge of the Hammers.
Potter spoke to reporters after the FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa on Friday night, and explained how losing two of his attackers didn’t help matters, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
“Niclas doesn’t look good. Obviously how he pulled up, it didn’t look positive, so I’m not hopeful about that.“
“Of course you never know, but Cree’s was nowhere near as severe as it looked. But it’s too early to say. His substitution was more precautionary at half-time as well.“
“He sort of wanted to half carry on, but it wasn’t worth taking the chance, so to lose two of your front four, with no disrespect to anybody coming on, made it difficult, but it’s just how it is.“
Then, Potter highlighted how Villa had us camped inside our own half, due to not having a proper outlet up front:
“Credit to Aston Villa, they stepped up as well I think and pushed us back probably a little bit more than we’d have liked, but the boys dug in.“
Those two observations from Potter make it very clear to me that Danny Ings has no kind of future at West Ham.
The Hammers head coach was clearly under no illusions about how much our levels drop as a team when Ings plays up front.
Danny Ings was a terrible signing for West Ham from the start
The 32-year-old was signed from Aston Villa for £12 million in January 2023, and he has since proven to be an absolutely awful addition for the Hammers.
Ings has bagged just five goals in 64 games for West Ham over the past two years (Transfermarkt).
He was a horrendous signing from the get go.
The ageing striker has absolutely no pace whatsoever, and injuries throughout his career have clearly taken their toll on him.
In order to succeed as a striker in the Premier League these days, you have to possess explosive pace and the strength to hold up the ball.
Ings has neither of them unfortunately, and he is unable to lead the line on his own for us.
He will be out of contract with the Hammers in the summer, but it wouldn’t surprise me one little bit if he was moved on this month, especially if we manage to sign one or two strikers.
Graham Potter has made it very clear that Danny Ings has absolutely no future at West Ham.
It still frustrates me to this day that we signed him for such a costly fee.
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