Ex-West Ham player and assistant manager Stuart Pearce believes his former team will experience plenty of “tough days” during the course of this season.

Speaking exclusively to Hammers Headlines (courtesy of BestBettingSites.co.uk), Pearce said that, while he rates Graham Potter, he thinks he will still need plenty of patience from fans to transform the club’s fortunes:

“I think there’ll be a bit of tolerance for a few months towards him, to be quite honest with you. He’s signed some new players as well, who are bedding in.”

“The end of last season wasn’t great. It was okay, but not great. And they’ve got off to a bad start up at Sunderland. But I think he’s a very good manager and a good coach, and if he’s just given time, he’ll turn things around there a little bit. But I don’t think it’ll be an easy campaign. It’s just going to be about little wins week in, week out. There will be some tough days at West Ham this season.”

West Ham have to address clear weaknesses

The defeat to Sunderland on Saturday demonstrated where the club need to strengthen. A midfield consisting of James Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez is simply not good enough at this level.

With Edson Alvarez also seemingly on his way out of the club, Potter desperately needs reinforcements in the middle of the park before the transfer window closes on September 1st. Whether he will get them is another matter.

Potter is currently the bookies’ favourite for the sack

The 3-0 loss at the Stadium of Light has certainly not aided the Irons boss’s chances of remaining in the job for the long term.

Betting firms have priced Potter as the likeliest Premier League manager to leave his post first this campaign, with odds between 9/4 and 5/2.

Read more about the West Ham First Team Squad for 2025/26 here