‘I worry for West Ham’ – Paul Merson makes Hammers observation but Graham Potter will make him eat his words

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Paul Merson has made a really astute observation about West Ham United.

And now West Ham United head coach Graham Potter to prove Paul Merson wrong.

Merson suggested that Potter is perfect for the Hammers, just after the 49-year-old got the job at the London Stadium.

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Potter has made small improvements already, and Saturday’s 1-0 win over Arsenal was real confirmation that wer’e heading in the right direction.

West Ham are still missing some key players but we really should be beating Leicester.

As long as the players show the same determination, application and team ethic as they did against Arsenal then they’ll be just fine.

But Merson has made a valid point about why the Hammers struggle sometimes…

Paul Merson makes West Ham observation

The Hammers need to beat Leicester on Thursday night.

If we don’t, Saturday’s superb win over Arsenal will be meaningless.

West Ham are expected to beat Leicester, but Merson thinks facing teams like the Foxes is problematic for the Hammers.

He told Sportskeeda:

“They are good at playing against teams that force them to sit back and play on the counter. But in games where they re forced to take the initiative, I worry about West Ham. Don’t get me wrong, it was a brilliant result against Arsenal, but let’s face it, no West Ham fan wants to watch their team sit behind the ball and play like that every weekend.“

Merson is completely wrong with the second half of that statement. I thought the performance against Arsenal was truly exceptional in every single department.

However, he is definitely right by saying that we struggle when we are forced to take the initiative in games.

That was proven by the home defeats to Brentford and Crystal Palace recently.

Graham Potter now has to prove to Paul Merson, and the West Ham fans of course, that he’s capable of building a team that can sit back and hit their opponents on the counter AND one that is comfortable dictating the tempo and rhythm of the game.

I firmly believe that Potter has all of the tools needed to do just that.