How much blame should former West Ham United boss Graham Potter receive after Sweden were sent packing by the World Cup by a formidable France? Well, according to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, not very much at all.
The nature of Sweden’s defeat may have felt eerily familiar to those who witnessed his brief reign at the London Stadium unravel just five games into 2025/26.
Potter was sacked by West Ham last September following four losses in five. During heavy defeats by Sunderland, Chelsea and Tottenham – three matches with an aggregate scoreline of 11-1 – West Ham United started OK and then capitulated.
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The same would happen to Graham Potter’s Sweden in New Jersey. They held France at arm’s length in what the legendary Zlatan Ibrahimovic felt was a more than satisfactory opening stanza.
But as Didier Deschamps’ title favourites pinned them further and further back – Sweden not so much backs against the wall as the cement between the brickwork – the opener, when it did arrive just before the break, tore open the floodgates.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic reacts as Kylian Mbappe’s France knock Sweden out the 2026 World Cup
“Every attacking player in France has the ability to decide a match on their own. If I’m going to talk about my little Sweden, it looked stable for 15-20 minutes,” Ibrahimovic said during his role as a pundit for Fox Sports. “Then they lost discipline in their organised play, especially in defence.
“[For the first goal in the 45th minute] Kylian Mbappe was given exactly what he loves most; free space. It was like rolling out a red carpet for him. It was suicide.”
Potter’s West Ham conceded three goals to Sunderland in the space of 31 minutes on the opening weekend last August. After Lucas Paqueta stunned Chelsea with a thumping early effort a week later, the visitors hit back with three goals in 19 minutes and five in 43.
Spurs’ three goals came in a 17-minute blitz on what was Potter’s penultimate match in charge.
That France would wrap up a last-16 spot while turning 0-0 into 3-0 inside half an hour may not have come as much of a surprise among those tuning in from East London, then. Once Sweden lost their way, they never looked like finding it again.
Still, the notoriously hard-to-please Ibrahimovic feels that Potter deserves immense credit for taking Sweden to the World Cup in the first place. Sweden were rock-bottom in their qualifying group when Potter replaced Jon Dahl Tomasson in October.
Ibrahimovic praises former West Ham United boss Potter
Not only did he claw back a six-point deficit from the play-off spots, he out-manoeuvred Ukraine and Poland to secure a place in the competition proper, and then led the Scandinavians to the second-round of the World Cup.
Even Nereo Rocco at the peak of his Catenaccio powers would have struggled to contain a French triumvirate of Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappe, let alone a coach relying on a 31-year-old Victor Lindelof and former Celtic misfit Gustav Lagerbielke.
An Ikea kitchen knife to a gun fight.
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“I think Graham Potter did a good job,” Ibrahimovic insists. “First of all, taking Sweden to the World Cup, because if you look at the qualifiers, there weren’t many points but they got a second life.
“He took us to the World Cup, and the first match was incredible [a 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia]. We enjoyed it then, but then it was back to reality against the Netherlands [a 5-1 loss], and Japan was a good match, getting a draw there [2-2].
“Whoever faces France, even if you play a perfect match, it doesn’t matter what you do. It only depends on France. If France just puts it in second gear, you can be as perfect as you want, it only depends on France.
“When I say it’s scary to face them, I mean it. It depends on how good they want to be, and it will be like that for the bigger nations too. France can beat any team in this tournament, and I’m happy for Sweden.
“We are a small nation, we still made it to the World Cup. We should be proud. We have ten million inhabitants, and football is our biggest sport. And yet we have one of the biggest ever [stars] and he is sitting here!”
Bashful as ever, Zlatan.
Ibrahimovic also feels that Potter deserves praise for shifting out his usual three-man defence for a back-four, while resisting the temptation to drop one of Alexander Isak or Viktor Gyokeres for a more defensively-minded player.
“I want to give Graham Potter credit. He went back to a back-four and played with two strikers in Isak and Gyokeres. That’s how I think they should play.
“But I’m not a coach.”
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