West Ham fans make their feelings known on Mohammed Kudus and left early in their 3-0 opening day defeat to Sunderland on Saturday.
Hammers fans travelled to Sunderland with a Mohammed Kudus snake banner, and sang “Kudus you’re a c**t”” in the concourse inside the Stadium of Light.
Second-half goals earned the Black Cats a dream start, Eliezer Mayenda sent cushioned header past Mads Hermansen to open the scoring, before Dan Ballard doubled the scoreline with his header, then Wilson Isidor came off the bench to add a third.
After the second goal went in. pic.twitter.com/uZKdQV97tV
— Sol Invictus (@good_and_rich) August 17, 2025
West Ham fans make their thoughts clear on Kudus in the away end at Sunderland pic.twitter.com/AKWycBP2uR
— Hammers Hub (@HammersHubWHUFC) August 16, 2025
West Ham boss Graham Potter said after the game, per the club website: “The result is obviously bad for us, and the second half was really disappointing.
“In the first half, I thought we were good. I thought we did lots well in terms of quieting the crowd down and creating some opportunities. We could have scored, I thought, but nevertheless, we felt OK.
“We started a bit slow in the second half, and from out of nowhere, a goal goes in and it becomes difficult. It was a game where probably the first goal, especially here with the environment, was going to be challenging for us. But we tried to push.
“But in trying to push, we opened ourselves up. The second goal’s a poor one – a mistake leads to a cheap set-piece, and then we didn’t do the basics well enough in the second phase.
“We haven’t done the basics well enough – it’s as simple as that, and we have to improve that.
“Their first goal didn’t come from any fantastic play from their perspective, and I don’t say that with any disrespect.
“It was just a ball in the box that we have to do better with. Whether we thought subconsciously it was a comfortable one, I’m not sure, but that’s not good for us at all.
“In these environments, you’re never comfortable. You’re never safe, and we didn’t do enough at the start of the second half.
“Even though it was stop-start, we didn’t do enough, and there wasn’t too much to like about that second half from our perspective.
“I think that sometimes the game doesn’t always restart after half-time with the same tempo or flow.
“There might be a few substitutions or injuries, but at the same time, like I said, the goals haven’t come from much.
“Then, once you’re 1-0 down, it becomes challenging. We responded well in pre-season to those sorts of situations, so we have to learn from today. If you don’t do the basics right, at any level, you’re in trouble, and I don’t think we did enough today.
“Of course, we have to respond now.
“We have to do the basics better, for sure. We have to learn this painful lesson, because if you don’t, you can talk about how well you play, or about attacking football or whatever, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.
“If you don’t do the basics well, then it’s hard to win games. So, we have to really improve that, get back to Rush Green and start working again.”
Graham Potter shares his thoughts after this afternoon’s defeat 🗣️
Posted by West Ham United on Saturday 16 August 2025
Jarrod Bowen said, per the club website: “I’m obviously fuming. “It’s the start of the season, they’re obviously on a high and in the Premier League, if you don’t take your opportunities, it’s only a matter of time [before your opponents do]. If you don’t defend well enough [they score], and I thought the goals were quite easy, and we’re all disappointed on the manner that we conceded the goals. You’re going to lose games at this level if that happens. So obviously, I’m disappointed and fuming with the start that we’ve had today.
“It was just about us priding ourselves on keeping the ball out the back of our net,” Bowen observed. “In any situation, the strikers, midfielders, defenders, everyone as a whole, as a team, should be keeping the ball out the back of our net. Because if you create your opportunities like we did, if you defend well and keep the ball out the back of the net, you’ll probably go on and win the game
“I think in the first half, we had our opportunities, and we felt we had another gear to go up into the second half, but ultimately we didn’t do that, then we conceded the goals, and we ended up losing three in the second half.
“We probably had the better of the opportunities in the first half. We probably expected a reaction for them to come out a little bit quicker and a little bit faster. We had a couple of bits of play where we turned the ball over and it was just that little bit slower, more lethargic than probably what the first half was. I think they fed on that. Whether it would be them turning the ball over and them running behind and the crowd getting up, then they put balls in the box and scored their goals from it.
“So, I just don’t think we started the second half with the same intensity as the first half. That’s annoying on our behalf, because that’s the mindset thing from us as a group of players, to keep going, to make sure we win this game, because we knew we didn’t have time coming in. If we’d done what we’d done in the first half in the second, we’d win the game, but we didn’t do that.
“You don’t want to fall in the rut of, it’s the early end of the season,. You want to put it right straight away. We wanted to put it right today. But we haven’t. And you don’t want to say, we’ll be better next week, we’ll do this, we’ll do that, because we have to be. There are no excuses. You want to put it right, and we have an opportunity to do that at home Friday night.
“Tough opponent, we know that. But we’re at home, we can use our advantages. And we have to look at ourselves and be better. You’re going into that game, coming off the back of losing 3-0 in the first game of the season, so if that doesn’t gee you up, and that doesn’t make you want to give a reaction from inside, then we’ve got somewhere wrong. So we have to react well for Friday.
“The fans will be most disappointed out of everyone. And coming up here today, they’re expecting more. We all need to give them more. So they probably don’t want to hear me saying this now. They want to see it on the pitch. That’s the message that we have to give ourselves. But we have to react.
“We know they’ll turn up Friday. They stand by us through thick and thin. I spoke about the other day, that the bad times made the good times as a team. But like I said, they probably don’t want to hear me.
“So we keep going. They want to see it. And I share that message. I want to see it as well. I want to see reactions. I want us to be better. And that starts again Friday.”
@brexitbubbles Kudus the Judas #mohammedkudus #westham #fyp #tottenhamhotspur ♬ original sound – brexitbubbles
@brexitbubbles One word: Useless #sunderland #westham #premierleague #fyp #brexitbubbles ♬ original sound – brexitbubbles
@brexitbubbles Terrible. @Road to the 92⚽️ #sunderland #fyp #westham #premierleague #football ♬ original sound – brexitbubbles
@brexitbubbles Battered. #sunderland #fyp #football #westham #premierleague ♬ original sound – brexitbubbles
This is the reaction on Twitter as West Ham fans make their feelings known on Mohammed Kudus and the 3-0 defeat to Sunderland…
@RicharlisonSZNx: But but I got told Bowen was your best player.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
@WestHamJoshV: The problem West Ham have is that no one associated with the club or away from the club are not remotely surprised at the result or performance against Sunderland today. Just got played off the park by a newly promoted team with 7 new players. Shambles. Disgraceful performance. The days of wondering whether West Ham would be competing for European places again like the season before couldn’t feel further away. The worst run club in the Premier League. Disgraceful performance, yet again under this manager.
@TroyClarkWhelan:The blame for that defeat rests squarely with Potter. How has he not started Potts, and how long will it take for him to acknowledge that JWP and Rodriguez are just not good enough. We urgently need midfield reinforcements. I’m actually concerned about the Chelsea match.
@MichaelZdenek: Congrats to Sullivan for saving ££. What a terrific owner we have. Positives: Diouf looked good, Callum Wilson gets his bonuses, which is all that matters. Negatives: everything else.
@big__huvy17: But how.. there’s ‘good vibes’ in the camp doh? For six weeks all you kept talking about was the ‘good vibes’. Why didn’t the ‘good vibes’ get us the 3pts? 😂😂🥴🥴🧐🤨
@mufzone07: Are you regretting sacking Moyes?
@HamImages: Disgraceful, pathetic, outrageous.
@RBurnett348: Pathetic. The fact Sullivan has dragged his heels this window is pathetic. The fact that Potter is forcing Alverez out but chose to start Guido is just as bad.
@lukemaldeni: GSB OUT. POTTER OUT. HALF THESE PLAYERS OUT. AWFUL.
@YedIin: Every Kudus goal contribution is even sweeter when you know it pisses that little fanbase off
@coster_ray: As a West Ham fan I’m so glad this has happened. Our transfer business has been a joke, Potter should have been sacked last season. And Sullivan, Brady & board should have moved on a long time ago. Hopefully we get relegated this season. And congratulations to Sunderland 👍
@Ollie_Davis: Thanks for Kudus 😘
@Luke_T__: If you keep hold of some keys players you’ll come back up within a year or two
— Alex (@xAlexTHFC) August 16, 2025
