Graham Potter Thread

[Superblue 6,372]

I personally think at present it's pointless debating the position of Potter.

If it was my choice, I would have kept faith with Tuchel and allowed him time, particularly considering the signings in the summer were made with heavy involvement from him. However even with blinkers on because I really loved the way Tuchel embraced the club and the challenge, but the football in the second half of last season had become largely unwatchable and our form was similarly mid table to this season. We were in a title challenge come Christmas and ended up clinging on for top 4.

It's easy to use the sanctions as an excuse and a distraction but this season started poorly under him too. Those defeats against Leeds and Southampton were embarrassing, and the loss to Dinamo was dire. I do think this was a group of players and club in general that was in decline and those signs were showing with or without Tuchel, with or without Potter.

Potter has to take some of the blame, and he has been found out at times at Chelsea. At present I'm largely underwhelmed with what has happened under his watch and whilst there is absolutely no doubts that injuries have significantly hindered any potential progress or run of results, I still would have expected a bit more in some of the displays which have been limp at best. I do think whilst the attack is stuttering currently, we have started to look a lot more settled defensively. He's seemed to settle on Kepa, Badiashile and Silva which has worked well so far and at the very least a solid defensive base will always give us chances to pick points up even when struggling to score.

I think we were all largely impressed and happy with the transfer dealings in January too. This isn't all on Potter of course but he'll have had a big impact in my opinion on targets, etc and at the very least its promising he identified midfield as a position of need, one which reportedly Tuchel did not. It's now up to him to get a tune out of these players.

However, going back to the first sentence, I just don't see a scenario now where the owners bite the bullet so quickly with him given the position we are in the league and the investment made on him. He has to start showing signs of progress and quickly, but I think giving him the rest of the season before assessing is fair. I think if we move back up the table into the top 6, get a little deeper in the Champions League and start showing more as an attacking unit, then I think he'll have done enough to start next season here. If come the end of the season though, we've just churned wheels in mid table despite the new signings and players returning from injury then I don't think he'll have any arguments if the owners decided to look elsewhere.

[Vegetable 830]

Holy fuck, the arguments Potter's fans are bringing up to defend him are actually the best way to show how bad he is.

A lot of people seem to be unable to make a distinction between lack of performance and lack of ability. Yeah, managers deserve time, given they are proven talents, just not performing. GP on the other hand is evidently out of his depth in this situation and calling to give him (even more! Every other manger would have been sacked a long time ago) time to actually freaking learn the trade is utter stupidity or delusion.

And what the hell is up with people rubbing the "days of replacing managers are over" into faces of people who dare to notice GP is not Chelsea level? What's in it for the club? What is the reason to take pride in sticking to ridiculously sub-par manager? Were there also people borderline wanking because we sticked with Drinkwater for 5 years and not shifting players like some crazy club?

And don't get me started with Arsenal argument. How the hell is it related to our particular situation?

I wasn't the fan of sacking managers where we were underperforming for three weeks, but what is happening now is just a disgrace. However I can understand TB reluctance to admit to mistake and given only viable option is to appoint U23 manager as a caretaker as no interesting replacement is available at the moment, he could as well chose to ignore Potter's matter for now, as it makes no difference if he stays or goes. There's still like 1% chance GP will have some epiphany in the meantime.

I read today Ancelotti is questioned, so by the end of season, there may be some options to chose from.  

[YorkshireBlue 3,264]

3 hours ago, Vegetable said:

And don't get me started with Arsenal argument. How the hell is it related to our particular situation?

If you have to ask, there is no point even explaining it to you, your minds set, just hope GP has the chance to prove you wrong.

Edited February 7, 2023 by YorkshireBlue

[Vegetable 830]

20 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

If you have to ask, you clearly haven't a clue lol.

Nah, seriously. Claiming that rookie (although with completely different background, different circumstances and different vision for the club) manager getting to results after years of suffering means Potter will do go here is about as much of purely anecdotical guess as it gets

(And if I was to believe the contents of this board, Arsenal is leading about as much due to their performance as all the top clubs performing terribly, so is that a proof of the "good football" philosophy as well?)

There is equal chance GP would either do the same thing as Artreta (that is hardly Chelsea endgame imo) or he would not. It proofs absolutely nothing and is based on nothing, except anecdotical stretch. One has to be incredibly optimistic to think, that repeating veeeeryyy roughly similar process of club A in club B will yield similar results. There is an actual work to be done that makes a difference.

Going by this logic, we could also say that every Porto manager coming here will have a great degree of success or Pep being goat means we need to get someone from Spain, because hey, Pep is goat so every Spanish manager eventually will be as well. This is straightforward tik-tok science video level of argument 🤪

Edited February 7, 2023 by Vegetable

[lucio 5,418]

5 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

I'd stop right there, we ain't getting pep IF pep leaves man city he isn't going to any football club any time soon! I would get that out your head.

Based on what? Did he tell you that?

[Blue Armour 4,436]

13 hours ago, Fernando said:

If your using Arteta to compare he was very bad for like two seasons if I'm not mistaken. 

Not the best example to make your case.....

I think his point is, even when Arteta was shit (or at least his team was) Arteta parked the bus to at least keep clean sheets.

While I'm skeptical about Potter turning it around any time soon, he has at least started to achieve that, and with a back four defense no less.  And 3 consecutive clean sheets.

The one stupid thing he did though was leave Badiashile out of the CL tournament (only forgiven if we were forced to play Felix in that tournament) .

[YorkshireBlue 3,264]

7 hours ago, lucio said:

Based on what? Did he tell you that?

Typical response from you, wouldn't expect anything more 👍, and based on pep has been there what 6/7 seasons and has a contract till 2025, so if he was to leave he's sorted money wise for the next 2 years, and he likes to take a break from football after leaving a club, oh and the fact he's never managed 2 different teams from the same league.

Edited February 8, 2023 by YorkshireBlue

[lucio 5,418]

24 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Typical response from you, wouldn't expect anything more 👍, and based on pep has been there what 6/7 seasons and has a contract till 2025, so if he was to leave he's sorted money wise for the next 2 years, and he likes to take a break from football after leaving a club, oh and the fact he's never managed 2 different teams from the same league.

All top managers are sorted money wise.  Who else would be manage in Spain or Germany? Madrid would be off the cards and it's not like he'd manage schalke or some other shit bundesliga club. Tbh if he wanted to stay in club football , we'd be his best bet other than psg

[YorkshireBlue 3,264]

25 minutes ago, lucio said:

All top managers are sorted money wise.  Who else would be manage in Spain or Germany? Madrid would be off the cards and it's not like he'd manage schalke or some other shit bundesliga club. Tbh if he wanted to stay in club football , we'd be his best bet other than psg

He doesn't strike me as manager that does 7 years at one club, then Jump to another in the same league, it just won't happen!

[Superblue 6,372]

1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

He doesn't strike me as manager that does 7 years at one club, then Jump to another in the same league, it just won't happen!

Agreed, I think realistically it would be PSG or an Italian club if he wants to stay in club football. He seems quite a loyal person and I just don't see a situation where he manages another club in the same leagues of those that he already has.

But he also doesn't strike me as someone who will be managing at club level at an older age - after City, he may slow things down and look at an international job.

[lucio 5,418]

1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

He doesn't strike me as manager that does 7 years at one club, then Jump to another in the same league, it just won't happen!

Who knows really, he hasn't had many jobs. He said if they lie to him he'll be gone asap, so if he feels betrayed then why not. They only have about 15 fans anyway 

[lucio 5,418]

3 minutes ago, Superblue said:

Agreed, I think realistically it would be PSG or an Italian club if he wants to stay in club football. He seems quite a loyal person and I just don't see a situation where he manages another club in the same leagues of those that he already has.

But he also doesn't strike me as someone who will be managing at club level at an older age - after City, he may slow things down and look at an international job.

What if they will no longer be in the same league😉

[Vegetable 830]

There is also some kind of dignity in play - hence Guardiola is openly cuting off his ties with owner's shady moves. If he bails out now (he said he is leaving "the next day" if he is being lied to) I could theoretically see him taking us over in the summer, but also think it would rather be Real or PSG.

 

BTW

Fun times. We have trouble to point potential replacement for Potter now and in the summer, it could be us, Pool, City, PSG and Real looking for a manager at once, huh 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Vegetable

[ZAPHOD2319 4,801]

If Pep left Man City for moral issues, he would be breaking his contract and Man City would not have to pay him. If Man City wanted to continue his contract to keep him from joining another PL team is possible.

[Vesper 30,088]

2 hours ago, Vegetable said:

but also think it would rather be Real or PSG.

I highly doubt he would ever manage Real, due to his Barca ties

PSG I could deffo see (especially with Messi and Mbappe there)

or the Spanish National Team

cannot see him ever at Manure or Pool due to Citeh ties (unless he is so angry at Citeh he goes for pure revenge, and even then, those clubs need to be sold as the current owners are too cheap for Pep, especially Pool)

Chels? well unless the Kuwaitis buy Arse or Spuds (omg, nightmare of nightmares, especially if they bought Spuds), we are just about the only other team with deep enough pockets for him atm

The big 3 in Italy (AC, Inter, Juve) are priced out his spending habits

I doubt he would go back to Bayern, but who knows, maybe

so, in order

I would guess

1. PSG (I think they someday have both Pepe and ZZ, at different times of course,, down the road)

2. Spanish National Team

3. Bayern redux