Grahaam Potter insisted West Ham “need to be better” after a poor 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Wolves.
Jorden Strand Larsen’s goal saw the Hammers suffered their sixth defeat of Potter’s 11 games in charge which leaves them 16th in the Premier League.
After seemingly turning a corner in wins over Arsenal and Leicester, the Irons have lost two and drawn one of their last three and their performance at Molineux was particularly uninspiring, with Tomas Soucek spurning their best opening towards the end of the game.
Potter said: “We had a really good chance, a big chance and we didn’t take that one and then they got into the game.
“We wanted to be more compact and as a result the first half wasn’t a good one for us. We had to adjust things at half-time and we did. We were better in the second half, some other chances as well, but in the end not enough to win the game.
“It was a game of two halves. If you look at the big chances of the game, probably more for us ironically. From a performance perspective we certainly weren’t happy with where we were first half.
“Second half was a lot better. Tomas’ chance at the end was a big chance. We need to be better if we are to do better.”
JSL with the matchwinner!
🇳🇴🎯 pic.twitter.com/xsmvtFYsfO
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 1, 2025
Potter hails Fullkrug impact
West Ham were much improved after the introduction of Niclas Fullkrug for the disappointing Evan Ferguson, with the German striker crashing a header off the crossbar and providing more of a platform to work off up front.
On Fullkrug’s performance, in which was his outing since early January, Potter said: “Really good. Can see what he brings to the team. We can go long into him, he picks up second balls, a threat in the box.
“For the first time he has played 45 minutes for us in a very long time so that’s pleasing.”
We need to get further up the table
West Ham remain on 34 points, level with Everton and Tottenham, but while relegation is not a threat, Potter still wants to demand as high standards as possible between now and the end of the season.
He added: “The motivation is to get up the table further. To win more points, every game is important for us.
“We want to get as many points as we can. To do that you have to play well, we didn’t tonight in the first half. We have suffered for that ultimately.
“Some positives but overall we need to be better.”
