In their two games so far in the top-flight this season, the Hammers have shipped eight goals via a 3-0 opening day loss to newly-promoted Sunderland and then a 5-1 thumping at home to Chelsea.
Potter has a worse record than Lopetegui
It's little wonder then that the East London faithful are getting a little restless.
Indeed, to date, Potter has a worse win record than his predecessor, Julen Lopetegui, in exactly the same amount of games (22) after West Ham's defeat against Wolves in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
The Spaniard was sacked after winning just seven games, drawing five and losing 10. Four home wins in 22 games was never going to be enough, and coupled with just 26 goals for and 44 against for a win percentage of 31.8% in all competitions, it left the board with an easy decision to make.
Potter has proven himself not to be of the magical variety, and the only positive from his tenure so far is that his West Ham squad haven't conceded as many goals (36).
He has won only five of his 22 games, just two of which have come at the London Stadium. Five draws, 12 losses and 26 goals scored has given the Englishman a damning 22.7% win percentage.
Two poor teams produced a decent cup game
Wolves have also started the Premier League season in similarly poor fashion and are sat above the Hammers in 19th position by virtue of conceding fewer goals in their two losses.
They are the only two teams not to have a point on the board, so supporters of both clubs could be forgiven for thinking that the cup fixture would be a real bore-fest.
As it turned out, it was anything but.
When the two sides last met at Molineux, Jorgen Strand Larsen's goal gave the hosts a 1-0 win, but the striker was on the bench for Tuesday night's game.
It was a strange decision from Vitor Pereira as the Midlanders had gone 195 minutes in all competitions without scoring, last finding the net against Brentford in May.
The visitors made all of the early running and three shots on target in two first-half minutes from Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, and Tomas Soucek should really have seen them on the scoreboard.
West Ham's problems were self-evident
Possession was fairly equal throughout the match (50.7% vs 49.3% in Wolves' favour), so it was anyone's guess as to who was going to take advantage first.
In the event, a lazy tackle from Guido Rodriguez handed Wolves a penalty as half-time approached. Hwang Hee-Chan saw his shot cannon back off the woodwork, but Rodrigo Gomes was first to react to put the hosts 1-0 up.
Given that the Irons had failed to win any of their last six Carabao Cup matches when conceding first, since a victory over AFC Wimbledon in August 2018, it didn't bode well for Potter.
To their credit, however, West Ham came out of the blocks in the second half in a much more positive frame of mind, and were soon on terms thanks to Tomas Soucek's well-placed header, though it would be the Czech's only aerial duel won in the match.
Along with Bowen, Soucek did at least manage five touches in the opposition box, but a sign of their problems was evident with Paqueta (3) and Niclas Fullkrug (1) the only other players to have touches in the Wolves area.
One of the Brazilian's three touches was an incredible headed goal from a pinpoint Bowen cross just after the hour, and it came against the run of play after the hosts had had six shots at goal between the two Hammers strikes.
Jorgen Strand Larsen changed the game
From that point on, the visitors should've eased to victory, but a consistent bombardment from Wolves that included 15 shots inside the West Ham box compared to six for the east Londoners, 29 touches in the box (more than double their opponents' output,) and 25 crosses was always going to pay dividends.
Jhon Arias and Hwang Hee-Chan's direct running continued to cause problems for Potter's men, and when Pereira brought on four subs with 18 to play, they made an immediate impact.
Wolves had already seen 67.2% possession over the previous 15 minutes, and just nine minutes after coming on, Strand Larsen equalised thanks to Alphonse Areola's poor goalkeeping.
Two minutes later, the striker did it again, the first time Wolves had scored three goals since 29th August 2023 against Blackpool (W5-0). Incredibly, it was also the 11th goal West Ham had conceded in just three games in all competitions this season.
Bowen's clash with fans symptomatic of West Ham's predicament
In his post-match press conference, Potter suggested that everyone should "look at the positives," but the only stats that fell in the Hammers' favour were that they made two more passes than their hosts (452 to 450), and had a slightly better percentage of successful dribbles (66.7%), both of which meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The West Ham manager also referenced an exchange between Bowen and some irate fans at full-time, which saw the captain go over to confront the away section, and only stopped from getting involved in a more heated outcome by Soucek and security guards in attendance.
All in all, another unsatisfactory night for the east Londoners, and if they lose against Nottingham Forest next time out, there'll be little surprise if Potter is relieved of his duties over the international break.
