West Ham star blasts team-mates in X-rated interview - 'I'm very angry' (2025)

West Ham slumped to a 1-1 draw after conceding in the 93rd minute to already-relegated Southampton, a result and performance that left striker Niclas Fullkrug fuming

Furious West Ham striker Niclas Fullkrug slammed his team's '***' performance after they flopped to a 1-1 draw at home to already-relegated Southampton. Fullkrug, 32, looked set to be on the winning side after he set up Jarrod Bowen to put the Irons ahead on 48 minutes, having been booed off at half-time.

Despite their plight, Southampton kept battling and scored a 93rd-minute equaliser through Chelsea loanee Lesley Ugochukwu. The draw moved West Ham up one place and further away from the relegation zone but it extended a run of six games without a win.

Graham Potter has only won three of his 14 games in charge, having been appointed in January. Pressure is on the ex-Chelsea and Brighton boss to deliver an upturn in results before the end of what's been an underwhelming season at the London Stadium.

German striker Fullkrug was signed for £27million last summer as part of an exciting recruitment drive. But like many of his team-mates, the Germany international has failed to live up to expectations.

In an extraordinary post-match interview, Fullkrug pointed the finger at his team-mates, claiming that they have a 'mindset problem'. "I am very angry. Not disappointed, just angry for what we did after the [Bowen] goal," he told Sky Sports.

"It was difficult to bring the boys back to push up. We didn't push up anymore. We tried but we didn't have the ability or the motivation to push up again.

"I'm very, very angry that we played like this because we had some minutes where we showed what we can do against an opponent like that at home. We showed that we can have good possession, that we have can go in behind and that we have the chances to score again. But the motivation, sorry, we were s***. I'm very angry."

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Fullkrug added that his team-mates didn't implement Potter's tactics, something which he believes is a pattern. "It's not the first time that we score a goal and from the next thing we just shoot the ball long," he explained. "We don't try to play football anymore. We don't push up anymore. We just sink. And that's not the way we want to play.

"We can play 65 minutes before with possession, even if it's not perfect, but we try to play. We try to create chances, we try to score, and then we score a goal, and after that, half of the team tried to score again and the other half of the team just try to defend very deep and that's not the way it works.

"We have to find a way to have togetherness, to have the idea where we want to go, what we want to do. The coach is very clear of what he wants but we have to do it all, everyone has to do it."

West Ham are back in action next Saturday at Potter's former club, Brighton. The Irons sit a comfortable 15 points above 17th-placed Ipswich, who only have six games left.

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