West Ham: Graham Potter ignoring future speculation as pressure builds after nightmare run | OneFootball

The Hammers head coach is under considerable scrutiny with the club second-bottom of the Premier League table

Graham Potter says he is not paying attention to speculation around his future as pressure grows on the West Ham boss amid a disastrous start to the season.

However, Potter declared that he isn't listening to the outside noise, as calls for him to be sacked grow louder and rumours linking former Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo to the club circulate.

"That (speculation) doesn't affect me. I don't listen to that. It's your (the media's) job and other people's job to create speculation. It's part of the noise of the Premier League. It's part of what you sign up for," Potter said.

"So, if results aren't good, which they haven't been, and no one's shying away from that. The results aren't what we want, then there's always speculation. There's always noise. There's always negativity."

Potter, who has won just six of his 25 games in charge of West Ham, admitted he had held talks with the club's board about the team's poor start to the season, but maintained there was no immediate pressure on him to turn things around.

"Yeah, of course (we have had talks), as we do every week. Positive talks. But we all understand as well where we're at, and we all want to improve," Potter continued.

"As I said before, no one's happy with where we're at. At the same time, you have to look at the context and the situation, and you have to not get caught up in the noise.

"I'd like it to change now, tomorrow, the next game, of course. We all want that. But we play sport, it's football, in the highest league, so nothing is straightforward.

"We just focus on what we can control and not worry too much about time frames and things like that that I can't do anything about."

It has been a dismal start to the new campaign for West Ham, a continuation of the malaise that had set in under Potter last season.

The former Chelsea boss looked lost for ideas during his side's defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend - a result that left them winless at home since February, but he said it was easy to place the blame solely on the manager for the team's poor form.

"We're in an emotional world. People want things quick, and I completely understand that. And when results aren't going well, there's a lot of emotion, there's a lot of pain.

"People are hurting, and often they want somebody to blame. It's not easy to analyse why results at a football club aren't what you want. It's not easy to make that assessment.

"So, therefore, it's clear, especially if you think the results should be better, then the natural conclusion is the coach is the problem. If that's the case, then everybody knows the consequences of that.

"(But) if you look at it slightly differently and if you make a different assessment of the situation, then you can come to a different conclusion."