Tony Cottee was coming from a very different angle the last time he spoke in detail about West Ham United’s midfield options.
It was the middle of August, and the Hammers had just kicked off the 2025/26 season with a performance so bad it would have had the more impatient members of the fanbase scrunching up their season tickets on day one.
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham United. A three-goal reverse is a bad enough way to start the new campaign. But away to a newly-promoted side? Even by the painfully-low standards of the Graham Potter era, this was especially poor.
The legendary figure of Tony Cottee saw James Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez chase Sunderland shadows around the Stadium of Light on that miserable August afternoon.
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Four months on, that Nuno Espirito Santo now has the luxury of picking between Soungoutou Magassa, Freddie Potts and Mateus Fernandes – he has even selected all three on occasions – is testament to how much the club’s midfield options have improved since that Wearside shellacking.
Tony Cottee raves about Freddie Potts and Mateus Fernandes’ impact at West Ham United
Cottee, speaking to talkSPORT, bemoaned a Ward-Prowse – Rodriguez partnership completely devoid of ‘athleticism or pace’. West Ham would address that issue by spending upwards of £50 million on Magassa and Fernandes a few days later.
Stuart Pearce thinks the next Declan Rice may have been uncovered in East London, too, in the shape of fan favourite Potts.
No wonder Cottee is speaking far more positively about West Ham’s engine room these days.
“I think he’s done well, Freddie,” Cottee, the club’s second-highest goalscorer, tells London World. “Magassa coming into the team as well, he’s got legs.
“I think one of the sort of difficulties last season, and certainly at the start of this season, was the lack of athleticism, if you like, in midfield. You need players that can get around the pitch. Obviously, ultimately, you’ve got to have an end product, you know, you need players that can score and create as well in midfield.
“Football is all about getting the balance. You have to get the balance right. You can’t have a load of workers in the team and no-one who can create or score, but you also can’t have footballers in the team and no-one who works.
“So, you need the balance, particularly in midfield. I mean, you normally have two players in midfield, sometimes you have three in midfield, but trying to get that balance is the hard bit, really.
“But, you know, certainly Fernandes has done well since he started playing alongside Freddie Potts, really. I’d like to pay tribute to Freddie, because I think Freddie has made a difference to the team when he’s played. He certainly knits it all together and he gives players like Fernandes a chance to get around the pitch and do what he’s good at.”
Cottee believes Soungoutou Magassa should be Nuno Espirito Santo’s third-choice
Nuno cannot speak highly enough of the Potts/Fernandes partnership. With the latter popping passes around at the base of midfield and holding the fort, Fernandes and even Magassa have relished the freedom to push on and drive through the thirds.
Gary Neville called Magassa a ‘destroyer’ after his coming-of-age performance at Old Trafford. But, scoring a late equaliser to deny Manchester United all three points, the former Monaco starlet is not merely a ankle-biting scrapper.
Even before levelling the game, he broke forward and rattled the side netting from distance.
Cottee, though, feels that Potts and Fernandes should remain the first names on Nuno’s team sheet. West Ham will certainly need their intensity and mobility when hosting Manchester City on Saturday.
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“Oh, it’s definitely Pottsy and Fernandes,” Cottee added when asked who he would select in the centre of the park if given the choice. “Those two players, definitely. But, you know, I think Nuno’s been sort of juggling around a little bit.
“He’s sort of tinkered with a back three or back five, if you like. He’s played four at the back, but we have been conceding goals.
“So, you know, you’ve got to keep searching to try and find the right partnerships, the right combinations. And ultimately, when you get to the stage where we get a few clean sheets, and once you do that, you get the confidence off the back of that.
“But as a first choice pairing in the centre midfield, I think Fernandes and Pottsy are the two.”
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