Chelsea steamrolled past a woeful West Ham 5-1 as the heat intensified on Hammers boss Graham Potter.
After losing 3-0 at Sunderland last weekend, Potter’s side have already conceded eight goals this season, the most a West Ham team have conceded across their opening two games of a top-flight season.
Jamie Redknapp called their defending “scandalous” as they found themselves 5-1 down after 58 minutes to a Chelsea team that was without Cole Palmer, who was injured in the warm-up owing to a groin injury.
The Hammers were booed off by those supporters who waited around until the end as frustrations were directed toward the board.
Lucas Paqueta had fired West Ham into an early lead with a pummelling strike from range but Chelsea found it easy to cause mayhem with West Ham unable to defend their box to the standards required. Joao Pedro headed Chelsea level before Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez both scored from close range to leave the west Londoners 3-1 up at the break.
Pedro Neto celebrates after scoring Chelsea’s second goal
Chelsea then scored twice from corners early in the second half as new West Ham goalkeeper Mads Hermansen had a home debut to forget, flapping a cross to Moises Caicedo to score before Trevoh Chalobah scored moments later from another set piece.
The world club champions shook off the dust following their opening-day goalless draw with Crystal Palace in style.
The Chelsea fans cheekily sang “there’s only one Graham Potter” towards their old boss, who has won only five of his 20 Premier League games since taking charge of West Ham in January.
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Potter gave a spiky response when asked if it was too early for West Ham to be in a relegation battle
Redknapp: West Ham need six new signings, including changing new goalkeeper
Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp:
“You’ve got to make tackles, you’ve got to make challenges, you’ve got to get after people. It was miles too easy for Chelsea.
“That’s eight goals in two games West Ham have conceded. I look at that squad – I know we’re only two games in – that’s a squad that’s going to be in a relegation fight. Unless they give the manager some help.
“They need four, five, six new signings. They haven’t got the quality.
“I’ve seen some defending in my life… that was as bad as it gets.
“It was so poor.
“Confidence is low. The goalkeeper doesn’t make it any easier – he’s having a really difficult time. He probably needs to be changed.
“He’s already made high-profile mistakes. [Alphonse] Areola might have to come in. He doesn’t fill me with any confidence right now.”
Bowen fuming with West Ham’s start
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West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen claimed that the team aren’t doing the basics and suggested the whole squad need an honest discussion about how to improve results
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen speaking to Sky Sports:
“When things are going well it’s easy to get individual awards but when things aren’t going so well you have to point the finger at every single person. It’s not [just] defenders defending well enough, midfielders and strikers not pressing as well as we know we can… it’s a whole. We all have to look at ourselves and take responsibility for where we are right now.
“Basic football I don’t think we’re doing well enough. We’re the ones playing out there. Myself as captain, I’m fuming with the first couple of weeks and it’s down to me to get a reaction out of everyone.
“Everyone has to look in the mirror and be brutally honest. Have some honest conversations as a group, which will be happening. We have a cup game on Tuesday – full focus to that. That’s an opportunity to having a good cup run. Then we go to Nottingham Forest before the international break. That international break can be a long dark place if we’re going through it with defeats in a row. We have to have a reaction. We have to face the music and be brave to deal with that. Then we have to look at ourselves and put it right on the pitch.”
Potter: We have to improve a lot
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Potter took responsibility for poor performances and admitted that he’s not getting the most out of his players
West Ham boss Graham Potter:
“A tough evening for us, of course.
“Bitterly disappointed with the result, with the manner of the goals we concede after starting the game well. Too cheap against a top team. To concede goals in the manner we have gives us an impossible task.
“Goals change games and affect things too much. We have to improve a lot.
“I look at myself, we all have to look at each other and see how we can improve.
“I’m responsible for the team and at the moment the team isn’t performing as we’d like and the results aren’t what we want. We’re not getting the most out of the players, we have to get more out of the players and that’s my job.
“We’re all responsible, we all have to do better.”
More than just Cole Palmer FC?
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on being more than just a one-man team:
“You know already how I think that I don’t care about [it]. You are there to say things, and people in general, they are there to say something. So, the ones [who] say that we are just a Cole Palmer team, for sure, Cole is our best player, no doubt.
“For sure, with Cole, we are a much, much, much better team. But I think we already showed last year, in two, three months, where Cole, unfortunately for us, was not 100 per cent, we achieved top four, that no one expected.”
