Graham Potter Thread

[King Kante 1,476]

38 minutes ago, Superblue said:

Disappointed that it came to this, but was inevitable. Ultimately the job was too big for him and he was given more than enough time to at least show some progression in his work here and it simply wasn't there. 

Whilst the ownership will take criticism for employing Potter in the first place, I do think they need to take a bit of credit for making this decision now. It would have been easy to wait or remain stubborn with their own appointment but in this situation they've shown that they're prepared to accept when they've made a mistake and move on. At the very top level, it's necessary.

If a decision isn't going to be made until the summer for a full time appointment then another possible name to throw into the ring would be Carlo Ancelotti. There's been quite a bit of talk of him leaving Real in the summer and possibly even taking the Brazil job but if we're looking for an experienced coach with a winning mentality and track record of success, who can offer stability without the controversy and ego, we could do a lot worse. I understand the ownership craving a long term manager at the club but they may never get that, if it happens it will be organic. In the meantime however, having a more experienced hand at the helm for a couple of seasons whilst they build their own experience of owning the running the football club could well be the best solution for everyone involved.

The firing of TT only makes sense if the rumours of him loving blow/chasingevery 20-29 year old women that crosses his path is true. Otherwise he should've been told to see out the season. 

As for Don Carlo, he has always been a bit of a cup manager. For sure his record in the CL is second to none and he is the ultimate steady hand. However, if you want someone who goes head to head with Pep, you need someone who can get into his head a bit. 

[Johnnyeye 7,441]

Finally this nightmare is over, i’m baffled it took Boehly this long to realize his huge mistake and pull the trigger, this bs is all on him. The damage is more than done, top 4 is long gone, out of all domestic cup competitions, CL quarter final still to play, but the task is herculean. this job was simply too big for Potter, he looked clueless and out of his depth for the most part, he looked passive and lacked authority. The team had no clear identity on the pitch, there was no clear vision or philosophy, lack of game planning, no urgency, very passive gameplay, and so on. i wish Potter the best wherever he ends up.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

I think there is also going to be question marks around Nagelsmann coming in from far and wide given how easily Bayern were willing to sack him. And its not like Bayern tend to sack a lot of managers, not historically. 

It is slightly concerning that there seems to be a lot of mention of internal disagreements surrounding Nageslmann’s last wee while at Bayern. And when you consider the idiot (genuinely there is no other way to describe him than that since he came in) we have as an owner binned an elite manager in Tuchel for not being “with his programme/vision”, what happens if Nagelsmann comes in and pushes back down the line? I mean personally I think having a manager with a bit of a backbone is better, particularly with Boehly in place who has quite clearly shown he has limited knowledge of certain aspects of the sport and business.

Plus one thing I don’t think is talked about enough is the amount of new personnel involved in our footballing infrastructure now. Personally, there is a slight feeling of too many cooks spoil the broth in the background, There’s also the possibility that Nageslmann or any manager may not want to work with so many of these guys in place? I mean it seems like we have about 7 lead footballing directors/footballing operations director/technical director/sporting director or whatever the fuck half of these have been appointed as. I mean if its jobs for the boys, where do I send my CV? Although again these are footballing people so it increases the chance that any major decisions on the footballing side will not be purely in the owners hand. It just has felt a bit excessive at times though, we’ve probably sacked more staff this season than points earned in the league. Or it feels like it.

Regardless. This next appointment HAS to work or we are risking a lot. There is no way we can realistically afford to go 2 seasons in a row outside of the top 4. Financially and competitively, it would be a disaster.

My only real concern with Nagelsmann is that for a “prodigy” he hasn’t exactly set things alight with by far, quite clearly, the best squad in Germany. At a club which is much more similar in stature to what we are than what RB or Hoffenheim were. Its no secret they’ve had a lot of mixed performances under him, so its certainly not an absolute slam dunk to get him in. But I think he is a better fit than most

There are a few big questions he will have to answer. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Superblue 6,370]

54 minutes ago, King Kante said:

The firing of TT only makes sense if the rumours of him loving blow/chasingevery 20-29 year old women that crosses his path is true. Otherwise he should've been told to see out the season. 

As for Don Carlo, he has always been a bit of a cup manager. For sure his record in the CL is second to none and he is the ultimate steady hand. However, if you want someone who goes head to head with Pep, you need someone who can get into his head a bit. 

Despite that he's still managed to win the league in all five countries he's managed in, and his CV reads better than all the managers we're being currently linked with combined (besides Mourinho).

I think forget about putting it to Pep at the moment, we need to first make sure we're back in position to at minimum be making the top 4. In Carlo, you have someone who keeps things simple, calm and is a masterful man manager. The biggest thing we have to be careful about is this season isn't repeated next. We have consecutive seasons outside of the Champions League spaces and it may become that much harder to get back in them in the future. Someone like Carlo wouldn't be a long term solution but for a couple of seasons he could just lay those foundations for someone else to take the team on in the future.

[turgi 71]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Disagree. Even if all the managers in the world were available Nagelsmann and Enrique would be top of my list. 

 

I don't know, Nagelsmann's profile reminds Potter a lot.

Luis Enrique is somewhat different but I don't see too much noise connecting him to Chelsea right now.

 

[DH1988 1,273]

Just wow, odd timing, after the international break with zero prep time.

[Vesper 28,824]

 

[coolhead23 1,146]

Most of the managers that we had in the recent past were aggressive, determined, egoïstic, passionate while Potter came across too soft, submissive and out of depth. I believe Boehly & the English media wanted Potter to be a success desperately however Potter didnt help himself. 

Guess this will be a first in sometime that we sacked 2 managers in one season. 

[MetsajCFC 1,255]

I do not get the logic behind this timing of events. Sacking him now and replacing him with an interim low profile manager till the end of the season, when we have realistically nothing to play for anymore, does not make sense. I'm sorry to say, getting past Real Madrid and Bayern Münich/Manchester City with this mentality and form the players are showing, is unrealistic, regardless of the manager in charge. Getting top four is not realistic either anymore given the games we've got left.

There were two options - he should have been sacked 2 months ago or given till the end of the season so the new manager in charge would get a fair introduction. Bizzare!

Edited April 3, 2023 by MetsajCFC

[Strike 7,217]

17 minutes ago, MetsajCFC said:

I do not get the logic behind this timing of events. Sacking him now and replacing him with an interim low profile manager till the end of the season, when we have realistically nothing to play for anymore, does not make sense. I'm sorry to say, getting past Real Madrid and Bayern Münich/Manchester City with this mentality and form the players are showing, is unrealistic, regardless of the manager in charge. Getting top four is not realistic either anymore given the games we've got left.

There were two options - he should have been sacked 2 months ago or given till the end of the season so the new manager in charge would get a fair introduction. Bizzare!

It is not as unrealistic as you are making it out to be.

Real, City are not leading in their league. Bayern are leading by 2 points and have changed their manager. None of them seem invincible and an inferior Chelsea team won the competition in 2021. 

[Special Juan 27,429]

Cannot say I'm suprised at all, probably a month too late if anything

[robsblubot 3,504]

56 minutes ago, Strike said:

It is not as unrealistic as you are making it out to be.

Real, City are not leading in their league. Bayern are leading by 2 points and have changed their manager. None of them seem invincible and an inferior Chelsea team won the competition in 2021. 

I agree. That's something folks here often ignore: we have a very expensive squad with quality players in a lot of positions... some sitting one bench would walk into most starting XI outside the very top clubs in the world.

We do have glaring gaps, and an unbalanced squad. On the other hand, Kante looked pretty good in the few minutes he played... like the little world beater is still there. Who knows... it's single elim and we are hardly that much an underdog. Would be nice to have a manager who was pulling the right strings, but that wasn't the case with Potter anyway.

Edited April 3, 2023 by robsblubot

[manpe 10,861]

11 hours ago, Gundalf said:

This will mean we will have 4 different coaches within 1 year.

We have more coaches in 1 year than Tottenham has trophies in the last 50 years. 

Tuchel, Potter, this interim guy... who is the fourth?

[Vegetable 830]

"Great dressing room atmosphere", "shocked players calling their representatives late at Sunday night" 😅

[cosmicway 1,323]

1 hour ago, Strike said:

It is not as unrealistic as you are making it out to be.

Real, City are not leading in their league. Bayern are leading by 2 points and have changed their manager. None of them seem invincible and an inferior Chelsea team won the competition in 2021. 

The comparison with 2020-21 is unrealistic.
We were much much better then, not good enough to win the premier but beat Man. City 3 times out of 4.
I agree there is really nothing to look forward to in the current season -our chances against bothr Real and City/Bayern are infinitessimal- but at least we can have a decent manager.

Looking back to last August the season started terribly.
Fresh from the Abramovitch adventure, Rudiger goes, basically we brought three new defenders Koulibaly-Cucurella-Fofana who did n't shine all that much really and the attack was not stregthened at all (Aube is a Joke, like Pato).
So Tuchel finds himself in a corner does n't know what to do and we had some ridiculous results, Zagreb, Leeds and some others.
Up to January I don't fancy Tuchel doing any better than Potter did - but he might have won that easy CL group just like Potter did.
After January and the new players we brought Potter showed his utter incompetence (Southampton-Fulham-Spurs-Everton-Villa ...). There were the injuries too but one cannot find any justification for him, no sign of any improvement whatsoever.
Now all we can do from now till May is to experiment.

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

2 hours ago, Strike said:

It is not as unrealistic as you are making it out to be.

Real, City are not leading in their league. Bayern are leading by 2 points and have changed their manager. None of them seem invincible and an inferior Chelsea team won the competition in 2021. 

You can't really say we had an inferior side in 2021 when Jorginho-Kante-Kovacic was a very solid trio, Mount was flying and we also had Rudiger/Christensen at the back. 

Fofana/Badiashile/Koulibaly haven't shown that they are capable of producing the same level of performances as Rudiger/Christensen on a consistent basis. 

The only real upgrade from that 2021 side would be Enzo & Sterling (if he is used properly). 

[Cosmin 2,484]

Ruben Amorim should be our 1st choice to replace Potter, in my opinion. 

He is great tactically, won plenty of stuff as a player and manager, and is well respected by his players. 

[lucio 5,418]

11 minutes ago, Cosmin said:

Ruben Amorim should be our 1st choice to replace Potter, in my opinion. 

He is great tactically, won plenty of stuff as a player and manager, and is well respected by his players. 

Too risky in our current situation. I've no doubt he's miles better than potter though