Graham Potter Thread

[Reddish-Blue 2,510]

1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

That's all well and good on paper and it's worked at man utd, doesn't mean he could come to this set of useless players and do the same here, bed time? Fuck of come on lads let's get another one sacked.

And the main differences at man utd are the new players, casimiro, what a buy he has been.

Not just Casemiro, the squad signings have been solid as well (Eriksen on a free, Malacia as a backup LB). 

Even managed to get Cristiano to leave the club which is massive. 

2 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

It's no coincidence that Man Utds win rate has paralleled our defeats in the same period.

It's Moyes 2.0 but this time it's our turn to deal with a bang average manager. 

Feel it's harsh to judge Potter with most of our backline out injured but the lack of fight in the players is a concern...

[Laylabelle 9,536]

40 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Realistically, he was only “craving” to join us as:

1) he was adamant to leave Benfica after winning the WC 

2) we were the only club who had indicated to the player, his camp and club we were willing to pay his release clause.

I mean he changed his tune pretty quickly after Todd Boehly and co fumbled the deal souring any chance of doing it this month. Look at his celebration the other game - does that look like somebody who was “craving” to join us or somebody upset he didn’t get a move he was desperate for? No, it doesn’t 😂

Come the summer lets see how keen he or some of the other elite level guys will be to join us when every other big club is willing to put their money where their mouth is.

This window was our only chance to get him, 100%, wait and see he will go anywhere but here now.

Yeahhh think that ship has sailed now

[Jype 6,398]

Whether Potter is good enough to take the club to the next level or not is besides the point.

The squad in it's current state would be problematic for anyone to handle so why not just ride this out, start rebuilding the squad with players better suited to the kind of football the club want to instill and if at that point Potter looks bad, then bring in another manager to continue his work with a better and more stable squad to start with?

The key is to build the squad with a certain footballing identity in mind and once that's done the head coach is basically just a cog in the machine that can be replaced without having to overhaul the squad every time a new manager comes in. That was the biggest problem for me during the Abramovich era where there was zero continuity and the playing style / system went from one absolute to another between managers and as as result the squad was a mash-up that had no clear identity.

Bringing in another manager in the current environment would be pointless without these changes and whoever came in would only be set up for a failure once again.

[Vegetable 830]

19 minutes ago, Jype said:

Whether Potter is good enough to take the club to the next level or not is besides the point.

The squad in it's current state would be problematic for anyone to handle so why not just ride this out, start rebuilding the squad with players better suited to the kind of football the club want to instill and if at that point Potter looks bad, then bring in another manager to continue his work with a better and more stable squad to start with?

The key is to build the squad with a certain footballing identity in mind and once that's done the head coach is basically just a cog in the machine that can be replaced without having to overhaul the squad every time a new manager comes in. That was the biggest problem for me during the Abramovich era where there was zero continuity and the playing style / system went from one absolute to another between managers and as as result the squad was a mash-up that had no clear identity.

Bringing in another manager in the current environment would be pointless without these changes and whoever came in would only be set up for a failure once again.

This is all true, but the question remains what about now? Is it okay to just give up and wait around until summer?

Let's face it, we are not doing anything this window, so the summer is only opportunity and I doubt we will be able to replace like 10 players in single window. And even if we will, it will be another months until they will get some cohesion. The six month until summer is bit of elephant in the room and surprisingly lot of people seem be ok with idea of totally downing tools, missing out on Europe and playing academy (wich is actually somewhat fine), whereas it is the time when Potter should at least demonstrate what is he capable of and what his general idea is. If he isn't capable of basic management with current squad, he won't be capable with "his players" and needs to go. (assuming he actually is working with DOF on building some vision and not just picking who he likes, what defeats the idea you are talking about)

The idea of literally just sitting around for 3/4 of season, replacing entire squad (wich is unlikely in practical terms) and only then expecting GP to actually START to get to work is just crazy.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Vegetable

[Vesper 30,219]

48 minutes ago, Vegetable said:

Let's face it, we are not doing anything this window,

we already have

and more to come

I just hopes its not more dross

[Vegetable 830]

9 minutes ago, Vesper said:

we already have

and more to come

I just hopes its not more dross

Yeahh, I mean, we are not getting the new leaders to build on, no CM (cms) who will immediately have impact, no CF, Felix seems more a makeshift solution than thought out move, deadwood still no books.

Benoit guy and youngsters are cool, but will they be integrated into the team asap? If they are, all good.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Vegetable

[Fulham Broadway 17,332]

Can have the best players in the World and it wont help.

Best teams I've seen are the ones where discipline has been enforced with encouragement. 2004 Mourinho, Pep, Ferguson, Clough who made gold nuggets out of turds. Arsenal Invincibles where diet, alcohol ban and fines produced 36 wins and 13 draws. Potter might be a 'good manager' but does he have what it takes to manage Instagram egos ?

[YorkshireBlue 3,279]

47 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Can have the best players in the World and it wont help.

Best teams I've seen are the ones where discipline has been enforced with encouragement. 2004 Mourinho, Pep, Ferguson, Clough who made gold nuggets out of turds. Arsenal Invincibles where diet, alcohol ban and fines produced 36 wins and 13 draws. Potter might be a 'good manager' but does he have what it takes to manage Instagram egos ?

The invincibles didn't have all the social media like today's players, sometimes you don't need to come down hard on players you just get rid of them.

[Gundalf 806]

3 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Realistically, he was only “craving” to join us as:

1) he was adamant to leave Benfica after winning the WC 

2) we were the only club who had indicated to the player, his camp and club we were willing to pay his release clause.

I mean he changed his tune pretty quickly after Todd Boehly and co fumbled the deal souring any chance of doing it this month. Look at his celebration the other game - does that look like somebody who was “craving” to join us or somebody upset he didn’t get a move he was desperate for? No, it doesn’t 😂

Come the summer lets see how keen he or some of the other elite level guys will be to join us when every other big club is willing to put their money where their mouth is.

This window was our only chance to get him, 100%, wait and see he will go anywhere but here now.

In my opinion, we shouldnt sign any "big" players anymore anyway. No complacent wannabe stars. We should go to smaller leagues and sign players who actually consider it an honor to play for a club like Chelsea. So if a player refuses to come to us bc we cant offer CL, we shouldnt even think about signing such a player. 

[didi007 69]

4 hours ago, Gundalf said:

Enzo Fernandez was craving to join us, with Potter as manager, and with our current situation in mind.  

Are you sure it wasn't because his wages were going to be increased four fold? From £45k pr wk to over £200k. And do you think if Liverpool and Man Utd had made offers which they didnt, he would still have chosen Chelsea and Potter?

[Gundalf 806]

1 minute ago, didi007 said:

Are you sure it wasn't because his wages were going to be increased four fold? From £45k pr wk to over £200k. And do you think if Liverpool and Man Utd had made offers which they didnt, he would still have chosen Chelsea and Potter?

Could say the same about Haaland and City. 

[didi007 69]

2 minutes ago, Gundalf said:

Could say the same about Haaland and City. 

Any top player in the world would want to play for Pep wherever he goes. 

[Vegetable 830]

25 minutes ago, Gundalf said:

In my opinion, we shouldnt sign any "big" players anymore anyway. No complacent wannabe stars. We should go to smaller leagues and sign players who actually consider it an honor to play for a club like Chelsea. So if a player refuses to come to us bc we cant offer CL, we shouldnt even think about signing such a player. 

Are those players actually exist tho? Modern football is what it is. Some are surely fans of the club and would love to be here, but most will see mostly paycheck and trampoline to more successful teams. Small leagues players who will find it honour to be here just won't be good enough, we can as well field our academy team as a first team, but what's the point? It's more the matter of character and mentality than format of player – just look at Silva. Yet people were still completely crazy about people like Dembele coming here. Again, no point of making steps backwards just for sake of it, we still need elite players. Club also needs to build it's pull and can't rely on players being fans.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Vegetable

[Gundalf 806]

1 minute ago, didi007 said:

Any top player in the world would want to play for Pep wherever he goes. 

There is only 1 Pep. Klopp doesnt really have a pull for example. 

[Gundalf 806]

9 minutes ago, Vegetable said:

Are those players actually exist tho? Modern football is what it is. Some are surely fans of the club and would love to be here, but most will see mostly paycheck and trampoline to more successful teams. Small leagues players who will find it honour to be here just won't be good enough, we can as well field our academy team as a first team, but what's the point? It's more the matter of character and mentality than format of player – just look at Silva. Yet people were still completely crazy about people like Dembele coming here. Again, no point of making steps backwards just for sake of it, we still need elite players. Club also needs to build it's pull and can't rely on players being fans.

I think these players exist. Why didnt we sign Haaland when he was playing in Austria? Why didnt we sign Enzo when he was playing in Argentina? Why didnt we sign Ödegaard when he was playing at Real Sociedad?

In my opinion, we should only sign players who consider it a real big step if they could join Chelsea and no players who already succeeded at other top clubs. I want young, hungry players who have something to prove. To the world, to themselfs.

Vesper is a better scout than what Chelsea can offer atm. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Gundalf

[cfccrost 23]

I think we should sign De Zerbi because Brighton plays even better with him. 😝

[Fulham Broadway 17,332]

43 minutes ago, cfccrost said:

I think we should sign De Zerbi because Brighton plays even better with him. 😝

Trossard seems to be engineering a move...

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

43 minutes ago, cfccrost said:

I think we should sign De Zerbi because Brighton plays even better with him. 😝

Don't say this too loud, Boehly might well come to think this was a good idea.

While I still think Potter is a meh coach, clearly out of his depth and that firing Tuchel was rash, kicking GP out now would probably not help us at all. Potter might be the scapegoat who can take all the blame now an in fact we have been looking far from inspiring with 0 progress in tactics, spirit or gameplan.

But the problems in this club are way bigger than Potter and run deeper, some have been building up for years. At this moment, the club is ravaged by bad leadership from top to bottom, the injury crisis the worst I have ever seen, there is no discipline, no confidence, no team spirit. Potter is clearly the wrong man to fix this on his own, but getting Poch or whoever through the door and thinking this will magically heal everything is just stupid.

[Fernando 6,585]

Well no one has mentioned this but we are only 3 points behind the almighty Liverpool. 

The world class klopp. 

 

[Laylabelle 9,536]

6 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Well no one has mentioned this but we are only 3 points behind the almighty Liverpool. 

The world class klopp. 

 

If only we could move past the 0 goal difference person could get past them!