A ‘half of two halves’ would be the best way to describe that first forty five minutes. West Ham starting nervous, slow, ponderous, all the customary Lopetegui attributes which we’ve fretted about since August: Piling the starting line up full of largely immobile midfielders was not a choice Potter would have wanted to make but one which was forced on him with six absentees. Speedsters Summerville, Antonio and Bowen amongst them, so, limited mobility left the crowd nervous and West Ham on the back foot in the early exchanges.
For the first twenty minutes Fulham could easily have scored: Two or three efforts hit the wood-work as West Ham looked very shaky. The crowd got behind them but after half an hour West Ham still didn’t penetrate as far as Fulham’s penalty box.
And then from nothing, a free-kick wide on the left which Carlos Soler took, the ball went into Fulham’s net, probably off an offside Soucek’s head. VAR confirmed disallowed. But, no matter, something subtle had changed: West Ham seemed to grow in belief and advanced, collectively, stepped about 20 yards further up the pitch, pressing at the front with Kudus battling away.
And it paid off-immediately with the high pressing from Alvarez, Soucek and Kudus suddenly producing a Fulham mistake: A loose ball played across their own penalty box for Carlos Soler to hit first time on the volley, back across the goal and into the right hand corner. Fabulous hit first-time, and West Ham were in the lead.
The belief coursed through the fans and the team. Less than three minutes later they’d doubled their lead, in just their second foray forward. Great Kudus tenacity, instead of firing aimlessly, Kudus -glory be- looked up and found Soler on the left – who then sent the ball wide to Wan Bissaka on the right, crossing for Soucek to volley home from eight yards. Neat passing, holding the ball, very ‘Potter’!
Fulham were suddenly on the back foot and looked a little shocked that all their possessions in the first half had led to nothing. West Ham would be hoping for a similar result in the second ’45.
Those hopes were dashed when Fulham got back into the game, a floated Iwobi pass evading everyone including Mavropanos and Fabianski and bouncing into the net. So soft. 60 minutes and Kudus was substituted for Ings – watching closely for any hissy fit from Kudus which was notably absent.
Straight away, Potter’s sub paid off with Ings closing down the ‘keeper and forcing the error for Paqueta to volley the ball into an empty net. 2 errors gifting West Ham two goals.
Hammers couldn’t hold the 3-1 lead as the clock wore on, another Iwobe lofted pass missing its target but bouncing past Fabianski again. This was the crucial moment when Potter bought on both Cresswell and Scarles to double up on Traore who’d come on: Several times the two made strong challenges- Scarles once off the line as West Ham hung on for a totally unexpected 3-2 win. Pressing, character, former lack-lustre players digging in and indeed “playing for the shirt”.
The Potter effect on display. Great to see.
