PREMIER LEAGUE
Graham Potter is under pressure and has not improved Tuchel’s Chelsea team
Chelsea have won just one game in nine and their Champions League hopes were slashed against Dortmund.
A single eyelash out of place can set off the very sensitive alarm bells at Stamford Bridge, and that is what the negative result in the Singal Iduna Park against Borussia Dortmund has done. The team was far from a disaster but only small details saved them from being so, such as João Félix and Hakim Ziyech. And, as is normal at Chelsea, all the stage lights have titled the focus onto one man: Graham Potter, who, despite the €300 million that has been spent on the side in the winter market, is not getting a tune out of the Frankenstein-Dracula-Boogeyman mega-monster he has drawn together on paper.
In 2023 the team have only won a single game out of nine in total. They are tenth in the Premier League and every week the number of matches to the end of the season - and Champions League qualification (10 points off) - ticks down. And now they are even having trouble seeing the European places that have blurred on the horizon. Manchester City eliminated them from the FA Cup and one must remember that Todd Boehly paid €20 million to get Potter out of his contract with Brighton after sacking Tuchel. Potter has not performed any magic with Chelsea as of yet and at times has looked beaten by the monster he has created.
Tuchel’s record looms over Potter
Out of the 24 games Potter has had, he has won 9, drawn 7 and lost 8. The only win that was truly emphatic was that against AC Milan in the Champions League, and he is yet to beat a top team in England. It is a situation that puts Potter’s name in the mouths of people at Chelsea FC for the wrong reasons and makes people doubt his capacity to manage the team.
It gets worse when one opens the stats books and compares him to his predecessor: Tuchel won the Champions League in the 2020-21 season against Guardiola, the Club World Cup against Palmeiras and the UEFA Super Cup against Villarreal. He also made it to two other finals: against Liverpool in both the Carabao and FA Cup, which his team lost on penalties. Potter has not done better than Tuchel with a better squad that has been reinforced with João Félix, Enzo Fernández, Mudryk and Badiashile.
Boehly and the fans disagree regarding the manager
At Stamford Bridge, with Todd Boehly at the helm, there is not doubt about Potter. It was the American who bet on him to take Chelsea in a different direction for the long term. “We love having Graham at Chelsea. He is a tried and tested, innovative coach who is aligned with our vision of the club. He is not only extremely talented on the pitch but he also has abilities that go further and that will make Chelsea a success. He has had a huge impact on his previous clubs and we hope for a positive impact on Chelsea too. We hope to support him, his team and the squad to develop their potential over the next months and years”, said Boehly at his presentation.
But the same confidence is not rife in the stands, who do not see things in the same way. If the situation does not improve and they are eliminated from the Champions League, the pressure on Potter to perform or be gone will rise, despite his contract running until 2027. And right now, the coaches market is a juicy one, with Zidane, Luis Enrique and Simeone all potentially on the list.
Premier League 2022/2023
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9Liverpool | 32 | 9 | 5 | 7 |
| 10Chelsea | 31 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| 11Aston Villa | 28 | 8 | 4 | 10 |
*Data updated to date Feb 17th, 2023