Graham won’t take a Pott shot at ref
GRAHAM POTTER took a sarcastic swipe at the “good save” fromwest Ham’s Tomas Soucek that should have handed Chelsea a late penalty. But the Blues boss refused to condemn referee Craig Pawson andvar Neil Swarbrick for failing to spot the handball from Conor Gallagher’s shot.
A decision which led to criticism of Potter from pundits Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand.
“It was a good save,” said Potter. “You need your goalkeeper sometimes to give you the points.
“It looks like one of those that if it was given it wouldn’t have been overturned but obviously it wasn’t given.”
Potter isn’t one to go ballistic in public but Cole said: “He’s doing a fantastic job, but if he had someone in his staff who has been at that level, managed at that level, you need to cause a bit of an uproar.
‘‘It does two things – it takes the deflection from the bad elements of your performance and it also puts it on VAR.
“It changes the narrative of the story.”
Ferdinand said previous boss Jose Mourinho would have made a meal of it, adding: ‘‘The back page would have been ‘Mourinho slams VAR’, and it takes the gloss off what happened on the pitch.” Comparisons with previous managers are unfair but it would do Potter no harm to come out fighting sometimes.
Few people would have begrudged him a bit of luck with the decision given the torrid time he has been having.
But Potter added: “You have to earn your luck, we can’t complain or wait for our luck to turn, we must keep working.
“The first half we were positive, we started the game well and scored a good goal.
“We conceded, which we could do better with, and that changes the game’s dynamic.
“The second half was more reflective of where we are as a team – players coming up to speed, returning from injury and players adapting to the Premier League.that’s the work in progress we are.”
Early on Chelsea – and Joao Felix in particular – were scintillating and overwhelmed West Ham.
Felix’s side-foot volley from Enzo Fernandez’s dinked ball over the top was a lovely goal, and both Felix and Kai Havertz had the ball in the back of the net but both efforts were marginally offside.
West Ham also lost Lucas Paqueta in that time but credit to them for rallying and taking advantage of a poor decision from Chelsea to try to play the ball out from the back.
Vladimir Coufal picked it up, his cross was met with a flick from Jarrod Bowen and there was former Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri to score.
The game ran out of steam and West Ham, who lost Nayef Aguerd to injury as well, went closest to snatching a win but Declan Rice was ruled to be offside in the move before Soucek netted.
Hammers boss David Moyes said: “For 20 minutes we found it difficult but we improved well after that.
“We stayed in it and earned a good point in the end.”
WEST HAM: Fabianski 7, Coufal 7, Kehrer 7, Ogbonna 7, Aguerd 7 (Johnson 79), Emerson 7; Paqueta 6 (Soucek 13, 7), Rice 7, Bowen 6, Antonio 6 (Ings 66,
6), Benrahma 6 (Downes 66, 6).
CHELSEA: Kepa 7, James 6, Silva 8, Badiashile 7, Cucurella 6 (Chilwell 66, 6), Loftus-cheek 7 (Gallagher 78, 6), Fernandez 8, Madueke 7 (Mount 66, 6), Felix 8, Mudryck 6 (Ziyech 66, 6), Havertz 6.
MAN OF THE MATCH: JOAO FELIX – Has an ability which keeps those watching on the edge of their seats. REF: C Pawson 62,471