Superblue

Personally I think the marquee signing for United in this position would be Kane and if he doesn't sign a new contract, I think United could well get a near free run at him. He's not going to come here or Arsenal given his Spurs connections. City have Haaland (unless he left but don't think he will yet). Liverpool will prioritise their midfield this summer. Newcastle isn't a step up from Spurs. Not sure the market is there for him abroad and he may well want to stay in England. It screams United getting him at present.

Agreed, you could say the exact same about how Kova captained tonight. Led by example with a huge performance.

Going to save most of my thoughts and re-analyse the game tomorrow but the main thing I feel tonight is pride. It's been a tough and testing season and it was just nice to see that heart and fight in the team tonight. Felt everyone who started the game put minimum 7/10 performances in. I'm not expecting us to win the Champions League but I didn't the two times we did either. We just seem to be getting players back fit at the right time, if the cards fall right you just never know.

I know it's the Champions League blah blah, but if we saw this much intensity, heart and desire from manager through to all 11 players on that pitch week in, week out, supporters would be far more willing to offer time and patience and excuse inconsistency in results.

What do you mean he wanted rid of? Do you seriously think he's exerting influence over who's playing, the formation of the team, etc?!

Or do we buy what the club considered to be a premium young talent and give them time to develop and blossom, or just another quick fix signing to plug gaps? I actually think this year was the right time to do this considering getting top 4 was a reach at best when we were in January. Mudryk, Madueke, Enzo and Badiashile will all be better next season for this half season that they are here now.

I think we just need to give Mudryk time and patience which isn't always easy when the team as a whole is struggling. He doesn't just need to (1) gain fitness bearing in mind the league in Ukraine was on it's break when we signed him, and (2) adjust to the intensity of the league but we as a club ourselves must adapt to a player of his skillset too. We need to make the most of his pace by getting the ball to him much quicker and giving him one on one chances. Our most success today was playing more direct and getting the ball forward quicker by switching play to the channels. Chilwell clearly benefited from this but that also offers opportunities for Mudryk to come off the wing and make runs inside behind the defence. If he gets a run, he's not being caught. It's limited time so far but there have been a couple of instances where he's made some very good passes in the offensive third which even watching on the TV didn't look on. I don't doubt his technical ability, I just think he'll take some time to fulfil his potential. He'll benefit enormously for next season in my opinion off the back of these 6 months.

To be care right now I don't care about anything else other than the win. Huffed and puffed a bit in stages but kept reasonable control throughout majority of the match and created enough chances to deserve the win in my opinion. I definitely think for now, the wing backs is a better option. Chilwell looks significantly more comfortable playing that role and stick James on the other side with greater attacking licence and we might start looking a better side offensively.

Agreed but we need some leaders here. A couple of players willing to take the responsibility. I completely understand where you're coming from, but in situations like this you do need someone to step up. That confidence won't return if everybody goes into hiding.

Promising first 25 minutes but the way in which we've lost momentum mid half at home to a struggling side is really disappointing. Leeds have grown into the game and it is giving off the feeling that they'll nick a goal in the second half. The start of this second half is critical for me. We've looked awful recently at the start of second halves, and I'm hoping having been booed off there's a immediate reaction from the team.

Would assume it's more likely to be 3-4-3 with RLC at right wing back. I don't mind the formation personally. I think in the situation we're in, it may well make sense to try and revert to type and get some results to stabilise the ship. I would've tried getting some minutes into Mudryk though and played only one of Felix or Havertz.

What the ownership need to realise is the idea of a long term manager needs to be organic. I'm sure every time a club appoints a manager, the dream is they are successful and stay with the club for years to come but it doesn't always work that way and it can't be forced. One of the things I believe most of us fans agree on when trying to work out reasons as to why we've been way off the pace challenging for the league over the last few years has been the lack of forward planning and structure at the club. It's not so much the managerial turnover, as it is the complete clash in style of managers we've gone through. We went and bought a number of young, technical players then appointed Jose. Then Conte came in with his back 3. Then Sarri with a possession heavy 4-3-3. Then Lampard leaning on the academy boys. Then Tuchel with a back 3. Now Potter who seems to want to switch to a back 4. No consistency has left us with a mish mash of players in a largely unbalanced squad. The ownership have actually made the hardest appointments already, just not Potter. Bringing in the likes of Vivell, Winstanley, Shields, etc - they are the ones that are tasked with the long term build and vision for the club and they are the ones that the ownership should be leaning on with regards to a long term, stable plan. That way if a coaching appointment doesn't work out, you move on to a different one with the right fit for the club and players. If Pep left City in the summer, do people think they would go for a big name like for example Simeone, or would they go for the most sensible fit stylistically after Pep? The club made some excellent signings in the January window which over time, I think we'll be able to look back and view that as a real golden window but it's now about putting the pieces in place around that, and this includes the manager.

I find that hard to believe. I think that's a bit of basic mathematical journalism where they're just working out contract costs, etc and assuming a termination would be for full amounts. There's been a lot of talk from pretty reputable journalists that suggest the players that have been signed under the new ownership are on lower base salaries than the previous regime and a number of incentives and clauses designed on one hand to reward but on the other hand protect the club from losses in earnings. If this is all true, I find it incredibly difficult to believe that there isn't similar consideration in the contracts of Potter and his staff, as well as cost effective 'get outs' if necessary. No matter how much the club might want this Potter appointment to work out, you'd still expect them to protect their position if it didn't.

The problem is the lack of money everywhere else. Besides the very top shelf of teams, the rest of Europe can't even compete with the lower half of the Premier League with regards to financial power for transfer fees and just as importantly, wages. I think we'll see with more regularity clubs within the Prem being more receptive to trading players between one another. A clear case of this was City last summer being willing to sell players to rival clubs. If we could get say £20-25m for Kova with a year left on his contract from City, I'd be surprised if we got an offer close to that on the continent.

In hindsight we should have sold Kante when his stock was high although I can completely understand the club being reluctant to do so. In the current position though, I'm quite content to now keep him. He's not going to be worth big money anymore at his age and injury history but I do think he's worth the risk to try and get him fit, even if he needs managing for the rest of his career. With Jorginho having gone, and it looks like Kovacic could follow, we're no longer looking at the make up of the squad and questioning the age and profile in certain areas. If anything we need to ensure we have some experience still in key areas of the pitch, like we seem to be doing with Thiago Silva. The hope will be that we've actually taken major steps this time to not rush Kante back and one hopes that will help him finally getting back to some form of regular fitness.

But realistically who is going to take the job on until the end of the season in a caretaker capacity? There isn't a "go-to" option like Roman had a couple of times with Hiddink and we no longer have a realistic in house option either like we had in previous times with Di Matteo, or even Zola if the club had sacked Sarri when he was struggling. Besides one or two, the whole staff came in with Potter. That's why I'd much prefer these decisions to be made in the summer without the backdrop of panic or pressure, but in order for that to happen, we have to pick a couple of results up over the next couple of games.

The biggest concern I have with this game is I have massive doubts we'll be able to match their intensity and work rate off the ball, which is quite pathetic in its own right but we haven't pressed as a unit successfully since the second half of last season and with so much play across the backline you just know there's a mistake waiting to happen at the weekend against a team who naturally press and close down everything.

It doesn't sound like it's major ligament damage (reports suggest weeks rather than months) and there's an international break coming up too so he's expected to miss I believe the remaining 4 games before that break and then remains to be seen how quickly he can get himself fit after that so we might not lose him for too long, game wise. Ultimately though, the next couple of games he is going to be a massive miss and even more so in the Dortmund game when Badiashile is also unavailable.

I think that game was probably the tipping point for most people willing to give Potter some time. It certainly was for me because it was such a backwards step. At least against West Ham and Dortmund there were signs that some pieces of attacking play were developing and some decent chances created and it felt that there was at least some progress but the last two games have completely killed that, and we can't forever keep taking a step forward, then 2 or 3 back. With the Spurs loss on top of this now, I think things could get toxic within the Bridge if we don't beat Leeds, who like Spurs are just a thoroughly disliked rival. Ultimately though, I'd much rather see us go and win the next two regardless of whether that creates a stay of execution. My biggest concern is if this form continues much longer we'll find ourselves inching closer to a relegation scrap, but if we can get a couple of results to stabilise, my preference would actually to be just to stick with Potter until the end of the season and move him on then and have the time to properly plan then for an appointment.

It's easy to say he'll be given more time and patience, but you get the distinct impression that this won't just simmer for long with Chelsea fans and the longer this run lasts and Potter stays in a job, that frustration and anger will eventually move beyond him and over to the board. That then changes the whole complexion of this scenario in my opinion. To be honest just losing to Leeds will send it there I think, but lose the next two, at home, and I think the crowd will turn beyond Potter and that suddenly cranks the pressure up on the ownership. For example, it wouldn't be a good look at all for them if there starts to be noticeable chants and calls for Roman Abramovich whilst they're sat in the stands at one of these next two.

He either needs to decide on short term just getting some results, or he steadfastly works towards the long term build which clearly wouldn't include players like Ziyech who was on his way out in January. Same with Auba, who now seems to be potentially back in the fold. Mixing and matching is just leaving us in limbo. There might be a bit more patience if it was clear we'd moved on from some players and were focusing on the players that will be here next season and beyond but that isn't the case, which just compounds the frustration. If we just need to settle everything down and worry for now about getting some results short term then for me the clearest option for that would be to revert back to a back 3 now we have most of our squad back fit. I watched United yesterday and a couple of times recently and they play to their strengths - quick, direct transitions on the counter attack. It helps that Rashford is in the form of his life, but I look at the likes of Sterling and Mudryk and there's no reason why we couldn't look sometimes to encourage a team on to us a little more and look to play in behind. We're not playing to the strengths of some of the players we have. When it takes 20 passes and 5 minutes to get the ball to one of our attackers and we wonder why they suddenly can't beat a couple of players instead of playing quicker and isolating opposition defenders.

I actually like Graham Potter - the way he comes across in the media, in interviews, he seems a calm, genuine human being. However, it's clear as day when you watch any training videos, games, etc that there is a distinct lack of intensity not just within himself but in his backroom staff too. It's simply too nice and even when you have that type of manager with such a demeanour they usually have a coach or two in their backroom staff that carry that personality. For ones like Tuchel, Mourinho, Conte who show that type of intensity themselves, they usually arm themselves with a calmer head alongside them. I'm very surprised that Potter hasn't looked at bringing John Terry into his circle, considering he's already working at the club - someone who could drive those standards of knowing what it means to play at Chelsea, that intensity, the experience at the top level. Perhaps its too big a personality for him to have on board, but having fulfilled the role he did at Villa, it does seem odd during these struggles that he hasn't looked at that.

I definitely had sympathy for him at the back end before the World Cup break and when things restarted with regards to injuries because our list was incomparable with anyone else but there's simply been no kick on with returning players and if anything, it's now creating an issue for Potter to stick with a settled side. The one positive is despite the results recently, I do think we've bought really well in January and a number of these players such as Enzo, Mudryk, Madueke, Badiashile will be better for this half season to become adjusted to the league. Bar a couple of positions, we're shaping up to have a really good looking, youthful side on paper that just needs the right manager in place.

It is unlikely but it's not out of the ordinary. It doesn't take much for some of the teams below us to pick points off of each other and the odd point or win off teams in the top half of the table, and we start to get sucked in closer to everyone if we carry on our current form. Lose to Leeds next week and we'll be 6 points ahead of them. They are currently 4th from bottom. We have to find a way to start scoring some goals. If games were similar to the Dortmund one with regards to chances created I'd be content to feel that it would come, but we've taken 3 steps backwards from that since.

I was more then willing to give time and patience but that changed last week against Southampton and has just been emphasised further today. The main question is who would we replace him with. If we were in a safe position, I'd be content for the club to give him the rest of the season to see if he can change anything before a decision is made that doesn't need to be rushed. However we're not in a safe position at all. Carry on this malaise and lose a couple more and we'll be starting to get dragged into a relegation fight that I'd be worried a number of these players don't have the stomach for as quite a few won't even be here next season. Nobody is too good to go down, and given the way we're currently playing and most importantly, the complete lack of goalscoring and cutting edge in the side currently, we're a prime case for one of those teams most seasons that are sat in mid table and get sucked into a fight with a terrible run of form. Something has to change and quickly to make sure this doesn't happen.