Paquetá begins the Potter era but Fulham almost ruins West Ham's party | first division

It was just as West Ham imagined when they spent more than £100m last summer. Lucas Paqueta as false nine. Two left backs on the pitch at the end. A defense so fragile that Alex Iwobi can score directly with two crosses. The new man in the dugout watches and wonders if life at the London Stadium is always so bewildering.

This ended up being a match that West Ham tried very hard not to win, even though they led 2-0 and 3-1 after a series of comical errors from Fulham. As it was, all Graham Potter cared about was taking the points and finding the logic in the puzzle.

Potter has had only three training sessions since replacing Julen Lopetegui and, given that he arrived at his first first division In the game in charge, without strikers, he could afford to look past West Ham, securing victory by scoring with his only three shots on goal.

But what a disaster this was for Fulham. They haven't won in the league since beating Chelsea on Boxing Day and lost here due to poor decisions at both ends. West Ham's goals, scored by Paquetá, Tomás Soucek and Carlos Soler, were all avoidable.

“I'm very happy with the result,” Potter said. “The performance was one of great effort, great unity, understanding that sometimes we have to suffer. “It was far from perfect in terms of where we want to be in the long term, but as a foundation the players gave it their all.”

Potter's attacking options were limited with the absences of Niclas Füllkrug, Crysencio Summerville, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen. He responded by naming a team without a recognized striker and it took West Ham a while to adapt. Fulham should have gone ahead in the sixth minute, but Harry Wilson volleyed against the crossbar.

The visitors were attractive but frustrating. West Ham, who are considering a loan move for RB Leipzig striker André Silva, benefited when they began to show more aggression after 20 minutes of Fulham dominance.

Faced with slightly more urgent pressure, Andreas Pereira was forced to make a blind pass in his own area in the 31st minute. With Bernd Leno out of his goal, Soler ran down the left to punish Pereira's carelessness by pushing the ball loose into an empty goal.

“Our mistakes penalize us,” said Fulham coach Marco Silva. “It's our fault we lost. We were very dominant until the first goal. We create enough opportunities to be leaders. The best team didn't win, but we have to be strong on both sides. We gave two goals to West Ham.”

Fulham were floored by Soler's first goal since joining West Ham on loan. Two minutes later, Paquetá, more or less assuming his goal role, troubled Joachim Andersen in an aerial challenge. The ball reached Mohammed Kudus and the best play of the half developed: Soler's chip freed Aaron Wan-Bissaka and the right-back pulled the ball back for Soucek to beat Leno with a rising shot.

Suddenly a double pivot of Edson Álvarez and Guido Rodríguez looked quite intelligent. Soucek, playing as number 10, had gone on one of his scoring streaks. Fulham's response was limited to a header from Raúl Jiménez to the post.

The second half brought improvement for Silva's side, and hope was raised when Antonee Robinson dispossessed Kudus in the 51st minute. The left-back found Iwobi, whose shot caused confusion in the West Ham defence. Jiménez, taking advantage of the indecision, did enough without touching for the cross to go past a distracted Lukasz Fabianski.

Potter responded by introducing Danny Ings in place of Kudus, who tapped his seat as he took his place on the bench. Soon Silva watched in disbelief as Leno lost possession, fumbled the ball to Ings and left Paquetá with another open goal.

Enough? Not when Iwobi made it 3-2, launching another cross past Fabianski, with no one in burgundy and blue taking responsibility. West Ham did not make it easy for them. Fulham had a chance to score a point. Fabianski denied Jiménez. Sasa Lukic and Adama Traoré wasted added time.

West Ham held on. They are 12th in the Premier League standings, two points above Tottenham. This isn't Potterball yet but it's a start.