Graham Potter Thread

[Superblue 6,372]

5 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Regarding patience it's all well and good if the end product is something you want to see, I staunchly defended Sarri because I believed in the potential end product.

Let's put it another way, if an artist was drawing me a painting tells me it will take a while but it's going to be a painting of the Naples sunset I'll be patient, if it's going to be Rafa Benitez naked I'll confiscate his brush and get him blacklisted.

If Potter wants us to give him time, he has to show something that makes us think it could be worthwhile.

Your belief in the end product though mainly was the result of how he had Napoli playing in his time there. I know there were some positives to pick out at times, and in other games it was a car crash and the football was a real hard watch.

I think Potter is in a similar situation whereby people will look at that Brighton team that he built and the football that they played as a point of reference to what we want him to do with us. It's not going to be plain sailing and is that much harder to accept currently with how poor we were today. One positive under Potter would be the Champions League campaign so far under his tenure. We were looking into the abyss a little after the first 2 games with Milan back to back to come but we've played well in those last 4 games of the group stages, and created quite a lot of good chances with some intricate pieces of play. The rough is going to come with the smooth in this situation, but Potter won't get many more like Arsenal today before he's faced with a disgruntled fan base. That's football at the top level for you. 

[Vesper 30,079]

30 minutes ago, nyikolajevics said:

Borussia Mönchengladbach is reall that appealing?? 🙂

I think they mean Bayern

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

You are summing up his spell here on 6 games tbh. Knockout stage when we won CL. (Not counting loss against Porto). This is only time he delivered in Chelsea. 

In PL he was average always around 75 points which is only good for top4. Lost every domestic final as well. Football was never good... We did won CWC and Super Cup but against way inferior sides with also not good games. 

Not necessarily. But if he didn’t deliver here in your eyes then no manager ever will. The first year he was here I think his record was pretty good. 

Lets see where we finish this season and if its close to 75 points or not with Graham Potter. If he makes it to the end of the season. The early signs are looking unlikely after an initial good start (although performances weren’t necessarily that good and I always said better teams than depleted AC Milans, Salzburgs, Palaces etc will take points off us as we conceded too many easy chances) - thats now games v Man Utd, Brighton and Arsenal where we have been outmanoeuvred tactically and even worse, in terms of quality, effort and desire. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by OneMoSalah

[Tomo 21,751]

18 minutes ago, Superblue said:

Your belief in the end product though mainly was the result of how he had Napoli playing in his time there. I know there were some positives to pick out at times, and in other games it was a car crash and the football was a real hard watch.

I think Potter is in a similar situation whereby people will look at that Brighton team that he built and the football that they played as a point of reference to what we want him to do with us. It's not going to be plain sailing and is that much harder to accept currently with how poor we were today. One positive under Potter would be the Champions League campaign so far under his tenure. We were looking into the abyss a little after the first 2 games with Milan back to back to come but we've played well in those last 4 games of the group stages, and created quite a lot of good chances with some intricate pieces of play. The rough is going to come with the smooth in this situation, but Potter won't get many more like Arsenal today before he's faced with a disgruntled fan base. That's football at the top level for you. 

I felt the way we were controlling games and adapted to the playing out of the back quickly was very impressive and come the end of the season I felt we were getting there with the entertainment aspect aswell. 

I do wonder where we'd be right now if he wanted that second season, which he admits he wished he remained for.

[Superblue 6,372]

13 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I felt the way we were controlling games and adapted to the playing out of the back quickly was very impressive and come the end of the season I felt we were getting there with the entertainment aspect aswell. 

I do wonder where we'd be right now if he wanted that second season, which he admits he wished he remained for.

I actually agree with the second season position because like you said, by the end of the season we were starting to look a better team, although that whole season we were extremely reliant on Hazard's attacking output.

Would he have also been willing to push through the likes of Mount and James into the first team? I know it's been intimated since that he had his eyes on a couple of players to come back into the side for the following season from loan moves but sometimes that is easier to say now in hindsight having seen the likes of them come back to Chelsea and perform. 

The changes from Sarri to Lampard to Tuchel, now to Potter who all have differing styles and footballing philosophies doesn't exactly help matters though when trying to find consistency in both the group and through recruitment.

[DDA 9,924]

If Pep had not managed in the Prem before this very day abd you offered him a £50m contract for 2 years, he would still turn it down.

This squad is pathetic. 

GP needs time abs alot of it. We need to see what he can do with clever buys in the market.

I actually think missing out on top 4 this season might do us a favour in a weird way.

We have been top 4 for years and what players have we really attracted??? 

The Lukakus and Havertz!!

Total dross.

We need technical players who can buy into an attacking way of football.

If you guys think GP can wade in and turn us into prime City... you're obviously deluded.

What I will say is though, GP needs to drop the dross and play the kids... not all of them but get Gallagher in that midfield as a starter, he brings soo much energy and desire which both are severely lacking in this starting 11.

Give Broja a run of games and try to improve his positioning.

Use Zakaria every fucking game to add some defensive stability.

Bring Omari Hutchinson to the fold. See what he can do. 

Drop RLC. Drop Auba and anyone else who thinks it's OK to perform on what can only be described as a dogshit standard. 

[Tomo 21,751]

2 minutes ago, DDA said:

If you guys think GP can wade in and turn us into prime City... you're obviously deluded.

 

 

There's middle ground between prime City and whatever the hell he's been doing the last few weeks.

I want to see encouragement he's got a good projected end product and I'm just not seeing it.

[Blue Armour 4,436]

10 minutes ago, DDA said:

 

We have been top 4 for years and what players have we really attracted??? 

The Lukakus and Havertz!!

 

While I agree that top 4 hasn't helped us attract world class talent recently, missing out on it this season in particular could be terrible.

Forget Potter. The rest of the football world is still evaluating a post-Abramovich Chelsea., and the last thing we need right now is to let go of our champions league status. It's not going to do Potter any favors either.

[milka 3,390]

I don't see how we will get into the top 4 with this team really. In the presence of this inspired Newcastle and Liverpool who sooner or later will make a series that will put them in the battle for the top four.

Even United outplayed us .

Europa League spot will be the best for us this season .Decent performance in the tournaments and some decent draws in the CL  like Brugge  or Frankfurt . 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by milka

[King Kante 1,643]

He seems to be surprisingly naive; even more so than SFL. He keeps changing things, with the impression that because he has a squad of good players they should be able to play any system better than most other teams with a consistent formation because they haven't got the same quality man to man. 

He really needs to calm down and focus on what is the best formation and who suits that best. 

His chopping and changing is causing mass confusion. 

[Clockwork 1,794]

4 hours ago, Hermione said:

Yeah it's his fault De Ligt, Raphinha or Dembele aren't here, so many trolls on here. Absolutely embarassing how some are putting Tuchel down just to defend Potter. Some of you didn't deserve that CL joy nor all these finals he reached but don't worry doesn't look like Potter will get us to any final anytime soon.

Lol he signed has been Sterling and Auba, Raphinha has been an absolute joke. Get over it, Potter might not be the answer but Tuchel ain’t it.

[Superblue 6,372]

2 hours ago, milka said:

I don't see how we will get into the top 4 with this team really. In the presence of this inspired Newcastle and Liverpool who sooner or later will make a series that will put them in the battle for the top four.

Even United outplayed us .

Europa League spot will be the best for us this season .Decent performance in the tournaments and some decent draws in the CL  like Brugge  or Frankfurt . 

It's far too early to make this assumption. Whilst I agree it's going to be extremely difficult if we continue at our current rate, there is still nearly 2/3 of the season to play. 

It doesn't look likely currently, but if we were to beat Newcastle next week then we're only 3 points behind them and can be within 2 points of Spurs if we win our game in hand. Newcastle currently are riding a bit of a wave of momentum. Their result today flattered them, as Southampton beat them convincingly on all metrics besides putting the ball in the net. Newcastle were well under 1 expected goal, yet managed to score 4. It's what can usually happen when you have a confident team, things seem to flow your way.

Whilst we can all have a moan and complain about the quality and ability within our squad, when put up and compared to the likes of Spurs and Newcastle, and even United, I would prefer our squad to each of theirs. It's up to the players and manager to get things going.

[Superblue 6,372]

3 hours ago, DDA said:

If Pep had not managed in the Prem before this very day abd you offered him a £50m contract for 2 years, he would still turn it down.

This squad is pathetic. 

GP needs time abs alot of it. We need to see what he can do with clever buys in the market.

I actually think missing out on top 4 this season might do us a favour in a weird way.

We have been top 4 for years and what players have we really attracted??? 

The Lukakus and Havertz!!

Total dross.

We need technical players who can buy into an attacking way of football.

If you guys think GP can wade in and turn us into prime City... you're obviously deluded.

What I will say is though, GP needs to drop the dross and play the kids... not all of them but get Gallagher in that midfield as a starter, he brings soo much energy and desire which both are severely lacking in this starting 11.

Give Broja a run of games and try to improve his positioning.

Use Zakaria every fucking game to add some defensive stability.

Bring Omari Hutchinson to the fold. See what he can do. 

Drop RLC. Drop Auba and anyone else who thinks it's OK to perform on what can only be described as a dogshit standard. 

Agree on the statement regarding technical players being recruited.

I don't agree currently on Gallagher and Broja though. Gallagher, for me, does have qualities but he's average on a technical level at this stage of his career. Broja similarly does not currently possess the awareness around him and is still very raw. They should both be involved within the squad and I think the minutes that Broja is getting will be to his benefit (he's involved in most games) long term.

Zakaria I would agree with. We don't know his 'level' currently because with the greatest respect to Zagreb, they're not exactly the biggest test case but until he's given a chance in the Premier League we're not going to know. He was excellent in midweek and should be high in confidence, unlike a number of players. His profile should give us a greater defensive stability and a mobile, physical presence in midfield. Given the struggles we have in midfield under different combinations, I would also be looking to play him regularly currently.

Agree too on Hutchinson. It's clear that Potter isn't keen on Ziyech and hardly uses him and this is someone who had one foot out of the door in the summer. A young player like that on the bench could provide an injection of 'something'. I really hope we see a couple of them potentially involved in mid-week against City.

[DDA 9,924]

5 hours ago, Superblue said:

Agree on the statement regarding technical players being recruited.

I don't agree currently on Gallagher and Broja though. Gallagher, for me, does have qualities but he's average on a technical level at this stage of his career. Broja similarly does not currently possess the awareness around him and is still very raw. They should both be involved within the squad and I think the minutes that Broja is getting will be to his benefit (he's involved in most games) long term.

Zakaria I would agree with. We don't know his 'level' currently because with the greatest respect to Zagreb, they're not exactly the biggest test case but until he's given a chance in the Premier League we're not going to know. He was excellent in midweek and should be high in confidence, unlike a number of players. His profile should give us a greater defensive stability and a mobile, physical presence in midfield. Given the struggles we have in midfield under different combinations, I would also be looking to play him regularly currently.

Agree too on Hutchinson. It's clear that Potter isn't keen on Ziyech and hardly uses him and this is someone who had one foot out of the door in the summer. A young player like that on the bench could provide an injection of 'something'. I really hope we see a couple of them potentially involved in mid-week against City.

Broja is looking raw but I honestly think he could offer more than what Auba has in the last few games. 

Gallagher isn't Paul Scholes by any means but he plays for the badge... you can see he is determined to win us over and that is far more than what can be said about the current crop of donkeys who start week in and week out.

The time for a rebuild is now and if truth be told we just don't have the necessary quality to improve this team to the level we want it at. That will take time and transfers so why not field hungry young players with a point to prove. 

[Johnnyeye 7,501]

10 hours ago, Tomo said:

if it's going to be Rafa Benitez naked I'll confiscate his brush and get him blacklisted.

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Laylabelle 9,534]

7 hours ago, Superblue said:

It's far too early to make this assumption. Whilst I agree it's going to be extremely difficult if we continue at our current rate, there is still nearly 2/3 of the season to play. 

It doesn't look likely currently, but if we were to beat Newcastle next week then we're only 3 points behind them and can be within 2 points of Spurs if we win our game in hand. Newcastle currently are riding a bit of a wave of momentum. Their result today flattered them, as Southampton beat them convincingly on all metrics besides putting the ball in the net. Newcastle were well under 1 expected goal, yet managed to score 4. It's what can usually happen when you have a confident team, things seem to flow your way.

Whilst we can all have a moan and complain about the quality and ability within our squad, when put up and compared to the likes of Spurs and Newcastle, and even United, I would prefer our squad to each of theirs. It's up to the players and manager to get things going.

Thint is as lovely as having the game in hand seems it seems hard to see where it'll take us until we know when it's to be played.. unless we know. Time we play it we could he further behind others going into it or closer who knows..hopefully closer!

That's the thing the team have the qualify and ability.. just not the game play to get results done

[Cosmin 2,484]

Remember when we used to despise international breaks? Nowadays it seems that they all can not come soon enough for Chelsea. What makes things worse is that we will basically have all of our players in Qatar for the World Cup. 

[chelsea_4_eva 1,180]

I feel he should give Broja more game time. I mean, we are not challenging for the league, so we can afford a little bit of inexperience up top, better than what we are doing now. With Broja playing a more important role in the squad, I feel we should have enough for top 4. Use this season to build chemistry up top with players that are probably still going to be here next season, I just don't see why GP is admant on playing Auba, he is not the long term solution.