Chelsea Sack Graham Potter

[martin1905]

1 hour ago, chara said:

Follow on....some puzzlement that GP seems to be getting a far easier ride from all of us than any new coach, or established for that matter, I can recall.

A possible reason that crossed my cynical OG mind is that he doesn't actually say or do anything to really annoy or upset anyone let alone us fans.

Same with the football presented to us....lot of dissatisfaction expressed but no real ire at GP...a 0-0 result doesn't please any of us but it's a case of "Well it could have been a loss" "One point better than none"..."Defence is ok"..and so on...a slow descent into an acceptable mediocracy ?

COGM 2... the more senior players are less likely to listen to what they might consider coaching bs...not for me to judge the coaching acumen,whereas a bunch of younger players might be more inclined to listen..at least at first...shrewd planning?

Just thoughts garbled as they may be.

Personally I think he's getting an easy ride because there is a lot of people, including myself, that actually like the fella and don't have any Ill feeling towards him. He's a likeable guy and we all know he's not going to last. It's not his fault he's out of his depth.

I've actually come to the conclusion that he was given the job to make the signing of so many  players easier. In terms of he will take what he's given and get on with it . The inclusion of Felix/omission of Badiashile is a prime example. 

He won't moan, he will do as he's told, the sudden change to a rigid 4231 every game is very telling and not really been discussed, at least on here. For a man that is known to not really favour a formation and regularly change not only game to game but also multiple times in a game, to suddenly play the same formation all game every game very strange. 

in summary we needed a yes man whilst we built the squad. Next we need a man to mould that squad into a title winning team. 

 

[martin1905]

Can anyone imagine Pep, Klopp, Jose, Ferguson , Wengeror any top manager leaving out one of their first choice centre halfs for a loan player?

Never in a million years.

[Ham]

13 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Personally I think he's getting an easy ride because there is a lot of people, including myself, that actually like the fella and don't have any Ill feeling towards him. He's a likeable guy and we all know he's not going to last. It's not his fault he's out of his depth.

I've actually come to the conclusion that he was given the job to make the signing of so many  players easier. In terms of he will take what he's given and get on with it . The inclusion of Felix/omission of Badiashile is a prime example. 

He won't moan, he will do as he's told, the sudden change to a rigid 4231 every game is very telling and not really been discussed, at least on here. For a man that is known to not really favour a formation and regularly change not only game to game but also multiple times in a game, to suddenly play the same formation all game every game very strange. 

in summary we needed a yes man whilst we built the squad. Next we need a man to mould that squad into a title winning team. 

 

I personally think he's getting some slack because people recognise that he's been hamstrung from day one with injuries to key players. 

I agree with the inclusion of Felix over Benoit because the former is a potential game winner and different from anything else we have whilst the latter will be well covered for once injuries abate.  

[chara]

1 hour ago, martin1905 said:

Personally I think he's getting an easy ride because there is a lot of people, including myself, that actually like the fella and don't have any Ill feeling towards him. He's a likeable guy and we all know he's not going to last. It's not his fault he's out of his depth.

I've actually come to the conclusion that he was given the job to make the signing of so many  players easier. In terms of he will take what he's given and get on with it . The inclusion of Felix/omission of Badiashile is a prime example. 

He won't moan, he will do as he's told, the sudden change to a rigid 4231 every game is very telling and not really been discussed, at least on here. For a man that is known to not really favour a formation and regularly change not only game to game but also multiple times in a game, to suddenly play the same formation all game every game very strange. 

in summary we needed a yes man whilst we built the squad. Next we need a man to mould that squad into a title winning team. 

 

At first reading the opening lines of your response  I thought maybe you were having a (taken as friendly, no issue) dig at my thoughts but of course as I read on I realised you were expressing what I was puzzling over in a far clearer way.

TFSW was detested and disliked by most here without regard for his coaching ability so it's not unreasonable to see the other end of the spectrum with GP.

[Trini_Blue]

3 hours ago, martin1905 said:

Can anyone imagine Pep, Klopp, Jose, Ferguson , Wengeror any top manager leaving out one of their first choice centre halfs for a loan player?

Never in a million years.

Badiashile is immense but we've got so many options there.

Also, Felix might well be a permanent signing and its tough to pay such a huge loan fee for someone who will only feature in the Prem. 

With Reece and Ben back with possibly Kante as well I think the squad would be better served getting some attacking impetus from Felix IMO.

[Michael Tucker]

4 hours ago, martin1905 said:

 Next we need a man to mould that squad into a title winning team. 

Anyone have Jose's phone number?

[chara]

4 hours ago, martin1905 said:

 

in summary we needed a yes man whilst we built the squad. Next we need a man to mould that squad into a title winning team. 

 

Got me thinking...a yes man...but yes to whom ?....I don't buy the Media version (vision!) ToddB as The Every Face of Chelsea and the Controller of EVERYTHING. So..with so many new titles I'm a bit confused as to who does what..anyone?

[xceleryx]

33 minutes ago, chara said:

Got me thinking...a yes man...but yes to whom ?....I don't buy the Media version (vision!) ToddB as The Every Face of Chelsea and the Controller of EVERYTHING. So..with so many new titles I'm a bit confused as to who does what..anyone?

Maybe it's less to whom but to the situation as a whole. 

From the way the club is looking to structure its recruiting, the influx of players arriving, the bloated squad, navigating through a nothing season from a domestic stand point, and so on. 

Potter feels more like Ranieri, although the latter was a better manager, then the man that's going to build the culture and mentality to drive us to the heights we want to be at again. But rather than RA looking to make an immediate impact and bring in Jose, this time a more conservative approach is being taken with respects to the managerial position and having someone that works well with younger players. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by xceleryx

[chara]

@xceleryxThanks for the response....worth thinking about..the "situation" as a factor certainly makes sense.

As ever who would/will be the "strong man? should the scenario work out.

 

[My Blood Is Blue]

We’ve hired the head coach because he happened to be at an incredibly well run club that was making him look far better than he actually is. Sadly GP is well out of his depth at this point.

Im all for a project and getting behind that, but that doesn’t mean I think the club should blindly be backing the manager regardless. We have to see improvement and quick, otherwise we’re just wasting time at a valuable stage of the mammoth rebuild.

Equally, I’m not going to constantly call for the manager to go, because I honestly don’t think the owners are going to change anything this season.

[xceleryx]

9 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

We’ve hired the head coach because he happened to be at an incredibly well run club that was making him look far better than he actually is. Sadly GP is well out of his depth at this point.

Im all for a project and getting behind that, but that doesn’t mean I think the club should blindly be backing the manager regardless. We have to see improvement and quick, otherwise we’re just wasting time at a valuable stage of the mammoth rebuild.

Equally, I’m not going to constantly call for the manager to go, because I honestly don’t think the owners are going to change anything this season.

Agree.

Potter was never high on my list of hires, nor have I demanded he be shown the door at this point in time. However, and I'm sure most will likely want to be seeing the same, we need to be seeing signs of why he should be the man to carry us forward. We can all acknowledge it's been a turbulent season thus far, and probably will remain as such until seasons end, but we that shouldn't be some sort of free pass to where he can't be held accountable in areas he can still influence. 

[martin1905]

7 hours ago, Trini_Blue said:

Badiashile is immense but we've got so many options there.

Also, Felix might well be a permanent signing and its tough to pay such a huge loan fee for someone who will only feature in the Prem. 

With Reece and Ben back with possibly Kante as well I think the squad would be better served getting some attacking impetus from Felix IMO.

We really don't. We play Dortmund next week.

We have Koulibaly and Chalobah.

Where as further forward we do actually have plenty of options, so many options in fact that we were able to drop one of them from the squad.

Listen, I know I'm in the minority on this but Im just not having one of our first choice centre halfs not in a squad to accommodate an attacking player, especially one on loan.

I think it's a really, really poor decision that will hurt us more than the inclusion of Felix will help and I am not convinced any manager would make that decision without pressure from above. 

 

[xceleryx]

1 hour ago, martin1905 said:

We really don't. We play Dortmund next week.

We have Koulibaly and Chalobah.

Where as further forward we do actually have plenty of options, so many options in fact that we were able to drop one of them from the squad.

Listen, I know I'm in the minority on this but Im just not having one of our first choice centre halfs not in a squad to accommodate an attacking player, especially one on loan.

I think it's a really, really poor decision that will hurt us more than the inclusion of Felix will help and I am not convinced any manager would make that decision without pressure from above. 

 

We're a side that needs goals though, having loaned an attacker for a hefty fee it would be incredibly moronic to then not select them as part of the Champions Leagues squad. While Badiashile would've been nice to we'll have Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Chalobah, and a returning Fofana. Then if needed we can always utilise Azpilicueta or Cucurella by shifting to a back three. There's have been no point loaning Joao Felix in the first place if he wasn't to be a feature in the Champions League. 

As you said, you're in the minority here. I don't think I've seen anyone else really have too much of an issue with the choices we made given the circumstance. 

[ROTG]

8 hours ago, Michael Tucker said:

Anyone have Jose's phone number?

I would suspect the newly form sports department would be responsible for scouting the market for the next coach.

Loose to Dortmund and it’s more than likely the end for GP at the end of the season. potentially 34 man squad playing 17 remaining PL games. 
 

Bizarre. 
 

 

[Box of Tricks]

2 hours ago, martin1905 said:

Listen, I know I'm in the minority on this but Im just not having one of our first choice centre halfs not in a squad to accommodate an attacking player, especially one on loan.

 

1 hour ago, xceleryx said:

While Badiashile would've been nice to we'll have Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Chalobah, and a returning Fofana. Then if needed we can always utilise Azpilicueta or Cucurella by shifting to a back three. 

 

It felt like the Rafa Benitez blanket analogy played out in front of our eyes.

I'd have gone with Joao Felix too, but Badiashile and Thiago Silva are already looking like such a good partnership and not having that will be a big loss.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Box of Tricks

[boratsbrother]

19 hours ago, chara said:

 

Same with the football presented to us....lot of dissatisfaction expressed but no real ire at GP...a 0-0 result doesn't please any of us but it's a case of "Well it could have been a loss" "One point better than none"..."Defence is ok"..and so on...a slow descent into an acceptable mediocracy ?

 

 

To be fair to Potter, he is starting to deal with the basics for any managers struggling team, which is to stop his team leaking goals at a rate which makes it very hard to beat any level of premiership team.

With us being so poor in midfield and attack, he has to start somewhere and defence is usually the area most managers look to improve on first. Stop giving away silly goals and loding points as a result, and then you stand a chance of moving forward in the other areas of the team.

Not pretty to watch by any means, but I see it as the first step forward. 

 

[martin1905]

5 hours ago, xceleryx said:

We're a side that needs goals though, having loaned an attacker for a hefty fee it would be incredibly moronic to then not select them as part of the Champions Leagues squad. While Badiashile would've been nice to we'll have Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Chalobah, and a returning Fofana. Then if needed we can always utilise Azpilicueta or Cucurella by shifting to a back three. There's have been no point loaning Joao Felix in the first place if he wasn't to be a feature in the Champions League. 

As you said, you're in the minority here. I don't think I've seen anyone else really have too much of an issue with the choices we made given the circumstance. 

As equally moronic to not include one of your first choice centre halfs, when one of your others is coming back from a long term injury, one is loveable but just not good enough and the other been horrendous this season.

I just don't think you mess about with your back four, especially the two centre halfs. If fit they play. Every minute of every game. The other issues shouldn't even be part of the discussion. Someone had to miss out, I get that but for me it would have been Badiashile, Enzo and one other. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by martin1905

[Bob Singleton]

 

[Mark Kelly]

16 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

 

I flip flop between wanting to give him time and the benefit of the doubt and wanting him gone , so much has gone on this season I honestly have no idea if he's any good or another AVB .

 

[Bob Singleton]

1 minute ago, Mark Kelly said:

I flip flop between wanting to give him time and the benefit of the doubt and wanting him gone , so much has gone on this season I honestly have no idea if he's any good or another AVB .

 

Same here. I'm yet to be convinced he's the manager we need, but my word the players' decision making and finishing doesn't help matters, does it?

[Mark Kelly]

8 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Same here. I'm yet to be convinced he's the manager we need, but my word the players' decision making and finishing doesn't help matters, does it?

They appear to have absolutely no football intelligence, passing when they should shoot , shooting when they should pass and completely unable to measure their passes properly, everything is played slightly behind the target. 

They're all professional footballers this cannot be Potters fault.

[Holymoly]

20 hours ago, chara said:

TFSW was detested and disliked by most here without regard for his coaching ability so it's not unreasonable to see the other end of the spectrum with GP.

All our managers have polarised opinion apart from Benitez who has the unenviable record of creating a consensus on this forum. In it's present form this forum is currently a distilled version of itself until more members return or new ones sign up. Consequently there are the anti Potter members and the pro Potter members with little inbetween. When the new players gel with the squad and the injured players return we will hopefully see progress on the field. Hopefully then Potter will be given a degree of respect. Of course the next stage is to begin pruning the dead wood in preparation for the summer window. Unfortunately much of that was either sitting on the injured list in January or were the sort of player that would never be a candidate for moving on in that window so Zyech apart we saw little intent to get rid of players. Or maybe everyone has just been told they have the second half of the season to secure their continued involvement at the club. I'd like to think the latter is the case but more cynical individuals may just describe it as a bloated squad.

[chara]

@HolymolyThanks...nice sensible post and summing up.

The word that keeps quietly cropping up is ,,hopefully....

I get the impression the two opposite views of GP are less divisive than appear...a lot of wanting him to be a success but more than tinged with doubt.

I was an early doubter and still am..... prepared to be convinced otherwise.

Edited February 5, 2023 by chara

[thevelourfog]

35 minutes ago, chara said:

@HolymolyThanks...nice sensible post and summing up.

The word that keeps quietly cropping up is ,,hopefully....

I get the impression the two opposite views of GP are less divisive than appear...a lot of wanting him to be a success but more than tinged with doubt.

I was an early doubter and still am..... prepared to be convinced otherwise.

I think being allowed to watch 30 minutes of training at Cobham would make my mind up much more so than any result between now and the end of the season. I just don't think, based on what we're seeing on the pitch, that he's doing nearly well enough (or even just enough) there. 

If you told me now the only options were gone tomorrow or he gets a minimum of 18 more months, I'd choose gone tomorrow. Giving him time beyond May feels like a big risk right now.

[Mark Kelly]

14 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

I think being allowed to watch 30 minutes of training at Cobham would make my mind up much more so than any result between now and the end of the season. I just don't think, based on what we're seeing on the pitch, that he's doing nearly well enough (or even just enough) there. 

If you told me now the only options were gone tomorrow or he gets a minimum of 18 more months, I'd choose gone tomorrow. Giving him time beyond May feels like a big risk right now.

This is the kind of post that does worry me , I consider you one of the most level leaded posters here , you don't get hysterical like some , you're measured and considered , if this is how you feel and you've been consistent , it's a worry .