Potter awaits Hammer blow as anger stalks east London

So it turns out the West Ham fans were wrong. “Sacked in the morning,” they chanted to Graham Potter during Saturday’s home defeat to Crystal Palace. But he has made it past the weekend.

- RICHARD JOLLY SENIOR FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

He could limp on into next midweek. Perhaps, in a symbolic move, the final blow will be struck by Everton and David Moyes, the man whose legacy at West Ham has been squandered by his successors and who, of the Hammers' last five managerial appointments, is the only two to succeed.

For Potter, with the spectre of Nuno Espirito Santo, Slaven Bilic and Gary O'Neil hanging over him, and with some of the supporters turning on the manager and nearly all in revolt against the board, it must feel only a matter of time. He has contrived to assemble a worse record with West Ham than Julen Lopetegui, while lasting longer. Perhaps Potter will be condemned by a dead-ball situation. In a league where no one else has let in more than three set-piece goals this season, West Ham have somehow conceded seven. It can be a sign of ineffectualness. It also feels an indication of Potter's struggles: his previous sides have not been particularly poor at defending corners. West Ham are.

Which feels somehow sadly fitting. West Ham have the worst elements of Potterball, but with added problems that were not previously detected. Their home record is awful, with three straight defeats this season and no wins in eight. West Ham could have considered themselves warned. Ridiculously, Potter's Brighton won one home league game in the calendar year of 2020; their first in the 2020-21 season came on 31 January, 376 days since the last. An inability to taste victory in front of your own supporters matters more when there are more of them; in West Ham's case, a difficulty generating an atmosphere at the London Stadium renders it still more significant to have a manager whose teams can rouse the crowd (and not in dissent).