West Ham were confirmed as the final club to be relegated from the Premier League on Sunday (May 24) despite an impressive 3-0 win over Leeds.
The East London club managed to rediscover a bit of fight following the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo in September.
Speaking in an interview with the I Paper, Antonio believes the damage was already done by that point, claiming that Potter “tried to change too much” during his short spell as manager.
“I just feel like Graham Potter came in and tried to change too much,” Antonio explained.
“As a manager, you’ve got to come in and understand the culture of the club. And I just don’t feel like he did. He came in, he got rid of all the senior pros: me, Lukasz Fabianski, Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal, Edson Alvarez – the captain of Mexico.”
Antonio then criticised Potter’s public complaints about a lack of leadership in the West Ham dressing room following these departures.
“Then within three, four weeks of getting rid of those players and the season starts, the first thing he says is, we have no leaders in the changing room," he added.
“How can you say you’ve got no leaders in the changing rooms if you get rid of all the leaders? So it was just, I feel like it was Graham Potter, who kind of put the team in bad stead.
“I was like, if they get relegated, it’s the only way the club’s going to feel it, the owner’s going to feel it.
“But now I’ve got rid of all the frustration and anger, I actually feel bad for the boys. I actually want the club to do well now – before I was just angry at everything."