Graham Potter Thread

[OneMoSalah 8,832]

  On 07/02/2023 at 16:44, Gundalf said:

I think non of us here has the competence in football to assess that. We know far less about football than we think and wish we do.

In the end, it doesnt matter what we think anyway. The times of early manager sackings are over and Potter will be here for the whole of 2023. 

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Footballs a game of opinions. I don’t think it would be wrong to say we’ve made no real progress under Potter. 

A handful of games aside, performances haven’t been good enough. Not at all. But yeah lets use 2 CL games against AC Milan 4 months ago as a good barometer as opposed to a lot of performances since then where we really have struggled against poor sides - not even considering the big teams. 

If we want to make real progress not only quicker but with the aim of becoming a top top team over a sustained period, we will need to replace Potter. 100%.

Edited February 7, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Hashishi 148]

  On 07/02/2023 at 17:19, YorkshireBlue said:

Tired of reading the same old shit, most in here have defended ever other manager at different teams when they didn't start well, klopp and pep included in this, with this stupid "you could see what they was trying to do" bullshit argument! That's bollocks the reason you defend them is because you are not emotionally involved... Fact, some 1 stated above potter won 7/10 games before wold cup and injuries not forgetting the fact he tore AC Milan a new arse Hole twice, "before the injuries" I get alot of you don't like him that's fine that your opinion, but don't base that opinion on what you have seen so far, it's widely talked about that potter hasn't had anywhere near enough time with this team than most managers when they take over because of how busy it has been, he's only just got what we can class as "HIS" players in. Cuca, sterling ,kk, auba all TT signings. Now for the playing mount Connor havertz argument I'll but this as simpleton as I can, EVERYONE ELES HAS BEEN FUCKING INJURED. from now on judge potter his players in, players are comming back, he will finally have a proper midfield and finally a proper back line, and 3 new attacking signings. Judging a manager during the worst injury crisis we have had in a long time and a mid season world cup, is to push your own narrative and nothing more.

Also I will add @Vesper thought you was better than this, potter was a highly rated choice of yours and you have let the class of Muppets on here turn your head.

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1. The difference is Pep, Guardiola and even De Zerbi brought in a new style of play and it was evident what they wanted to do, even if they were conceding loads (kind of reminds me how we should've stuck with Sarri after the 6-0 with city as at least he had a style of play he wanted to implement). Potter has shown no style of play, no niche in which he excels (e.g. Klopp and Tuchels pressing or Peps Tiki Taka) and no in-game tactical nuance a la mourinho.

2. I am still fuming after that Milan game, after being 3-0 up in the reverse fixture and winning 2-0, he should've been smart enough to take James/Chilwell off at 60' before they got injured. Tuchel made the same mistake against Juve the year before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I would've rated Potter more if he had dodged this landmine. 

3. Cucu is his player (and a sensible backup) although I won't argue the FB situation is dire when both James and Chiwell are out. I will finish off by saying that even with 'his' players, I don't think Potter will achieve anything by the end of the season. That is why I'm #PotterOut.

[Vesper 29,393]

  On 07/02/2023 at 17:19, YorkshireBlue said:

Tired of reading the same old shit, most in here have defended ever other manager at different teams when they didn't start well, klopp and pep included in this, with this stupid "you could see what they was trying to do" bullshit argument! That's bollocks the reason you defend them is because you are not emotionally involved... Fact, some 1 stated above potter won 7/10 games before wold cup and injuries not forgetting the fact he tore AC Milan a new arse Hole twice, "before the injuries" I get alot of you don't like him that's fine that your opinion, but don't base that opinion on what you have seen so far, it's widely talked about that potter hasn't had anywhere near enough time with this team than most managers when they take over because of how busy it has been, he's only just got what we can class as "HIS" players in. Cuca, sterling ,kk, auba all TT signings. Now for the playing mount Connor havertz argument I'll but this as simpleton as I can, EVERYONE ELES HAS BEEN FUCKING INJURED. from now on judge potter his players in, players are comming back, he will finally have a proper midfield and finally a proper back line, and 3 new attacking signings. Judging a manager during the worst injury crisis we have had in a long time and a mid season world cup, is to push your own narrative and nothing more.

Also I will add @Vesper thought you was better than this, potter was a highly rated choice of yours and you have let the class of Muppets on here turn your head.

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I don't think he is up to the task

I admit I was wrong about his ability to take it up to big club level

his offensive schemes are shit so far

and no, my head was not turned by the class of muppets, lol

I take zero pleasure in seeing Potter bollocks shit up

we are losing or drawing with vastly inferior teams, even with our injuries

that all said

I do not see him be sacked atm

IF we keep losing and slide down to near the relegation zone, then yes

but I just cannot see that happening

IF it does, Potter is truly a shit manager

[YorkshireBlue 3,175]

  On 07/02/2023 at 17:56, Hashishi said:

1. The difference is Pep, Guardiola and even De Zerbi brought in a new style of play and it was evident what they wanted to do, even if they were conceding loads (kind of reminds me how we should've stuck with Sarri after the 6-0 with city as at least he had a style of play he wanted to implement). Potter has shown no style of play, no niche in which he excels (e.g. Klopp and Tuchels pressing or Peps Tiki Taka) and no in-game tactical nuance a la mourinho.

2. I am still fuming after that Milan game, after being 3-0 up in the reverse fixture and winning 2-0, he should've been smart enough to take James/Chilwell off at 60' before they got injured. Tuchel made the same mistake against Juve the year before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I would've rated Potter more if he had dodged this landmine. 

3. Cucu is his player (and a sensible backup) although I won't argue the FB situation is dire when both James and Chiwell are out. I will finish off by saying that even with 'his' players, I don't think Potter will achieve anything by the end of the season. That is why I'm #PotterOut.

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If, buts, maybes... Change the fucking record lad

[Hashishi 148]

  On 07/02/2023 at 18:04, YorkshireBlue said:

If, buts, maybes... Change the fucking record lad

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BUT IF Pep leaves City, MAYBE we should sign him instead

[YorkshireBlue 3,175]

  On 07/02/2023 at 18:09, Hashishi said:

BUT IF Pep leaves City, MAYBE we should sign him instead

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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.

[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 3,175]

  On 07/02/2023 at 19:07, Vegetable said:

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

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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]

  On 07/02/2023 at 22:41, YorkshireBlue said:

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

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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]

  On 07/02/2023 at 18:19, 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.

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Based on what? Did he tell you that?

[Blue Armour 4,367]

  On 07/02/2023 at 16:00, 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.....

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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 3,175]

  On 07/02/2023 at 23:21, lucio said:

Based on what? Did he tell you that?

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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]

  On 08/02/2023 at 07:09, 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.

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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 3,175]

  On 08/02/2023 at 07:36, 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

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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]

  On 08/02/2023 at 07:58, 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!

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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]

  On 08/02/2023 at 07:58, 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!

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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]

  On 08/02/2023 at 09:53, 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.

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