Chelsea Sack Graham Potter

[xceleryx]

2 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Has he not been awful at Inter?

I haven't seen any of him, just what I've read.

He's spent much of the season out injured (hamstring, bicep and knee) and upon returning looked pretty out of sorts - granted he's primarily been coming off the bench until the last 4 games or so. 

I think he'd fair a lot better if he had more fitness behind him and wasn't virtually walking in mid-way through the season. 

[ROTG]

23 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

At this point, bringing back Lukaku and buying back Abraham seems like no brainier decisions. 

None of the “strikers” we have is remotely close to be good enough. Lukaku and Abraham would be instant upgrades. That’s how bad the situation is. 

I think Lukaku is enough seeing as he is a Chelsea player, Hopefully Broja will be back to support him, however due to his injury i would not be surprised if he loaned out for a season

[martin1905]

12 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Don’t think Boehly & Co wants to sack Potter. They’d lose face and be widely ridiculed. Don’t think it’s likely and it’ll have to get really ugly before they’ll do that. Not saying I agree, rather what I think they’ll do (or more not do in this case). 

If Potter was to be relieved of his duties I have no idea who should replace him. There’s a few names that I believe we could be looking at - Enrique, Zidane, Simeone, Nagelsmann… Maybe De Zerbi. But I don’t think there is an outstanding candidate to take over. So yeah, not really sure where this is going to be perfectly honest. 

I think there is, and you've named him.

For me Luis Enrique is THE outstanding candidate and ticks literally every single box, most importantly being immediately available.

I've said that I'd love Jose or Tuchel back, although I know neither will happen, but as much as I would the team we have assembled suits Enrique far more. It is almost built for him and the way his Barcelona team played. 

 

[martin1905]

32 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

He's spent much of the season out injured (hamstring, bicep and knee) and upon returning looked pretty out of sorts - granted he's primarily been coming off the bench until the last 4 games or so. 

I think he'd fair a lot better if he had more fitness behind him and wasn't virtually walking in mid-way through the season. 

Fair enough.

I was never one to give him any stick, I don't think we played to his strengths at all and it is one of my biggest criticisms of Tuchel. He failed to adapt to get the best out of him, although I don't believe he ever wanted him and didn't want to adapt.

 

[xceleryx]

1 hour ago, martin1905 said:

Fair enough.

I was never one to give him any stick, I don't think we played to his strengths at all and it is one of my biggest criticisms of Tuchel. He failed to adapt to get the best out of him, although I don't believe he ever wanted him and didn't want to adapt.

 

In much the same boat. 

Will be curious to see what we do with him come the summer though.

[Thiago97]

I think it would be difficult to reintegrate Lukaku at the club. I don't its so much with the players, but I don't think the fans would be too welcoming. The problem is he can't keep his mouth shut, which seems to be a bit of problem for many of this Belgian golden generation. 

I don't think he would get the love and adoration I believe he needs, which result in comments from him or his agent and the whole situation would end up fraught again.

I have some sympathy with it not working out here last season. I agree with others that Tuchel didn't seem to play to his strengths and it ended up making Lukaku look far worse than he actually is. I felt Tuchel wanted him to be what Haaland is now for City, basically stay in the box and be a penalty box finisher. I don't think this really suited Lukaku and was not a role he wanted to play. I felt his instincts were to try and be far more involved in the game and play, but he was reluctantly playing to instructions and often on the periphery.

Personally, I think his time here has passed now and we are likely to be lookin g to sell or include as part of a deal for other targets. Possible Felix makeweight with Atletico, depending on how the managers are of both clubs next season.

[ROTG]

35 minutes ago, Thiago97 said:

I think it would be difficult to reintegrate Lukaku at the club. I don't its so much with the players, but I don't think the fans would be too welcoming

If he hit the ground running and puts the ball in the onion bag, Its easy to forget history 

[Mark Kelly]

31 minutes ago, ROTG said:

If he hit the ground running and puts the ball in the onion bag, Its easy to forget history 

"How I left Inter, how I communicated with the fans, this bothers me because it is not the right time now, but even when I left it was not the right time.

"Now I think it is right to speak because I have always said that I have Inter in my heart, I will return to play there, I really hope so.

"I am in love with Italy, this is rightly the time to talk and let people know what really happened without talking badly about people because I am not like that."

[ROTG]

17 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

"How I left Inter, how I communicated with the fans, this bothers me because it is not the right time now, but even when I left it was not the right time.

"Now I think it is right to speak because I have always said that I have Inter in my heart, I will return to play there, I really hope so.

"I am in love with Italy, this is rightly the time to talk and let people know what really happened without talking badly about people because I am not like that."

What has that got to do with scoring goals for your employer. 

[Mark Kelly]

6 minutes ago, ROTG said:

What has that got to do with scoring goals for your employer. 

He does not want to leave Inter , he loves Italy , his family are settled there and admits the move was a complete mistake , this is not a player who's coming back to knuckle down and pay back Chelsea for the misguided faith they've already shown in him. 

He'll come back , disrupt our season before it starts and like his BFF Pogba will play the needle game until he gets to go back again.

He's played us twice now , once when we had to sign the dyed red haired Morata as Lukaku had led us down the garden path and signed for United in Morata's place and then again when he came back last time. 

Three times and we are the biggest mugs in football history . literally the only thing we can hope for is United sign Kane and Conte stays at Spurs so we can offload this blowhard.

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Mark Kelly

[jasonb]

Luis Enrique's Spain were poor at the WC, they could not score.

Pochettino for me,  if we need to change., not convinced we will though this season. 

[xceleryx]

11 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

He does not want to leave Inter , he loves Italy , his family are settled there and admits the move was a complete mistake , this is not a player who's coming back to knuckle down and pay back Chelsea for the misguided faith they've already shown in him. 

He'll come back , disrupt our season before it starts and like his BFF Pogba will play the needle game until he gets to go back again.

He's played us twice now , once when we had to sign the dyed red haired Morata as Lukaku had led us down the garden path and signed for United in Morata's place and then again when he came back last time. 

Three times and we are the biggest mugs in football history . literally the only thing we can hope for is United sign Kane and Conte stays at Spurs so we can offload this blowhard.

Lukaku wanting to stay in Italy is all well and good but the reality is that Inter Milan simply can't afford to keep him unless we willingly cut him loose for peanuts. I doubt Inter would even look to take him on loan again for his current cost, so it really is a case of Lukaku may not having much of a choice but to return, or at the very least accepting a possible move elsewhere outside of Italy and or Inter. 

[Sleeping Dave]

20 hours ago, martin1905 said:

Nice to see you back Dave.

It's probably never happened to us but it's quite common with teams managed by Potter. He's now managed 138 games in the premier League and his teams have scored a combined 147 goals. That's a  big sample right there and  pretty damning to be honest.

 

Cheers mate, good to see you also found your way here!

Yep, damning indeed.  I just lack that desire to score goals. We seem happy about to just pass it around and be comfortable. As soon as we are supposed to start asking questions we fuck it up. 

Great result yesterday though. I honestly didn’t think we had it in ourselves! 

[Max Fowler]

On 06/03/2023 at 17:56, Max Fowler said:

Really good presser from Potter today I thought. A great performance and win against Dortmund and I might be back onside!!! 
https://youtu.be/mHfP6OtAzgo

 

It's the day after, and I thought again on the pitch and in the press conference last night - there's a guy I want to be my manager.

In my opinion, one of the biggest problems with Potter has been how he has come across in interviews and on the touchline - with sulky journalists and some fans ridiculing the idea that what the manager says matters and that there wasn't a serious problem there.

Of course, it's all about results but my willingness to continue to back Potter as a fan depends largely on how much time I am willing to give him to learn from his mistakes (learn on the job) and that comes back to likability nearly as much as recent performances.

There has been a serious disconnect between Potter and this club, right from the off, and last night it was closed dramatically and unexpectedly. To see him fist pumping, jeeing up the crowd, letting his guard down just a bit was exactly what the doctor ordered.

I have never had any doubts that Potter is a really good coach. To some extent, I think the Brighton goal stats are a red herring (they were scoring a lot more towards the end of his tenure). The question is, could Potter ever step up to be an elite level manager.

English journalists have covered him in cotton wool and gaslit the Chelsea fans, causing more bad feelings. But I have slated Potter for months now and for the first time I connect to him, I respect how he hasn't caved under the pressure, and I start to have some hope.

Should a clear candidate become available to replace him - it may only be a matter of time anyway. But I am unconvinced about Enrique, Flick, or any of the other options. In some ways, I would rather have a Potter in charge than an "elite" manger who is a bad fit.

We need results and performances to pick up and I have some optimism that they will if we stick to a back five. Then we can look ahead still sceptical if Potter is the man longer-term, but at least feeling connected to him and comfortable with him being here for now.

[Mark Kelly]

I've been bashing him mercilessly on here and have to say "well done Graham" for last night , as Max alluded to above , last night it actually seemed he joined ranks as "one of us" he wasn't "Brighton's Graham Potter" he was a Chelsea man .

Nothing gives me greater pleasure where Chelsea are concerned than being proven wrong and I sincerely hope this is the first step of GP ramming my scathing assessment down my throat !

The players seem to really like him and I like to see that , it looked last night that we took a journey together out of adversity as a unit which was great to see. 

Onwards and upwards .

Mason , sign your contract , you may not want to miss this.  

[Bert19]

52 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I've been bashing him mercilessly on here and have to say "well done Graham" for last night , as Max alluded to above , last night it actually seemed he joined ranks as "one of us" he wasn't "Brighton's Graham Potter" he was a Chelsea man .

Nothing gives me greater pleasure where Chelsea are concerned than being proven wrong and I sincerely hope this is the first step of GP ramming my scathing assessment down my throat !

The players seem to really like him and I like to see that , it looked last night that we took a journey together out of adversity as a unit which was great to see. 

Onwards and upwards .

Mason , sign your contract , you may not want to miss this.  

I echo your sentiments.  It wasn't a perfect performance by any means and I definitely think we can improve on it, but last night felt like Chelsea again and was a giant step forward (especially when compared to what we've seen over the last few months). 

I do however think we have to follow this up with a series of results and improved performances now.  Get 3/4/5 wins and good performances strung together now - that will really start to feel like progress and give us an indication of if Potter can do this job longer term.  

But a most welcome change and performance last night.  The players really looked up for it and put a real shift in for each other and the manager.  And I really liked him being more energetic and animated, I agree that it looked like he turned a corner himself. Very encouraging signs and he deserves credit for the result.

(Also showed what the place can be like when our home crowd actually make some noise and get behind the team.  I would like to see that a lot more as our home support really has been dire for a long time now) 

[RDCW]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

I've been bashing him mercilessly on here and have to say "well done Graham" for last night , as Max alluded to above , last night it actually seemed he joined ranks as "one of us" he wasn't "Brighton's Graham Potter" he was a Chelsea man .

Nothing gives me greater pleasure where Chelsea are concerned than being proven wrong and I sincerely hope this is the first step of GP ramming my scathing assessment down my throat !

The players seem to really like him and I like to see that , it looked last night that we took a journey together out of adversity as a unit which was great to see. 

Onwards and upwards .

Mason , sign your contract , you may not want to miss this.  

Too soon to warrant this kind of optimism in my view. A partisan reaction on the part of our manager to a stirring comeback is the minimum standard of acceptable behaviour, so not necessarily enough to clutch GP to our bosoms as "one of us". Nevertheless, it's a start and what was telling was that the players are obviously still playing for him.

[Ham]

1 hour ago, RDCW said:

Too soon to warrant this kind of optimism in my view. A partisan reaction on the part of our manager to a stirring comeback is the minimum standard of acceptable behaviour, so not necessarily enough to clutch GP to our bosoms as "one of us". Nevertheless, it's a start and what was telling was that the players are obviously still playing for him.

Or..... They're playing for their own selfish ambitions of being in the CL and having something to play for.

[FrankLampard8]

With Mudryk not coming off the bench last night and Pulisic getting minutes ahead of him, I did wonder whether Potter wished he'd picked Badiashile for his Champion's league squad now. Thankfully Cucurella was superb. I know the optics of not picking Mudryk would have been terrible but i'd love to get Potter's unfiltered thoughts on that one.

[Bert19]

27 minutes ago, FrankLampard8 said:

With Mudryk not coming off the bench last night and Pulisic getting minutes ahead of him, I did wonder whether Potter wished he'd picked Badiashile for his Champion's league squad now. Thankfully Cucurella was superb. I know the optics of not picking Mudryk would have been terrible but i'd love to get Potter's unfiltered thoughts on that one.

I think his use (or failure to use) of Mudryk has been bad so far.  Several times he's either set him up to fail or just wasted his minutes (Fulham and Spurs away being prime examples).  That definitely needs improving. 

I thought that last 15-20 last night was set up perfectly for his pace to be a real asset to us as they had to step up the pitch, bringing Pulisic on before him was an odd choice made much worse by Pulisic's lack of anything useful when he did come on.  

All feels a bit odd where Mudryk is concerned at the moment. 

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, Bert19 said:

I think his use (or failure to use) of Mudryk has been bad so far.  Several times he's either set him up to fail or just wasted his minutes (Fulham and Spurs away being prime examples).  That definitely needs improving. 

I thought that last 15-20 last night was set up perfectly for his pace to be a real asset to us as they had to step up the pitch, bringing Pulisic on before him was an odd choice made much worse by Pulisic's lack of anything useful when he did come on.  

All feels a bit odd where Mudryk is concerned at the moment. 

I don't know how Mudryk can expect to attain match fitness if he's not playing any minutes , 

It wouldn't surprise me to see him feature at the weekend to be honest , GP does like a tinker 

[Blue Moon]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

GP does like a tinker 

Tinkers mend pots, as I recall? So hardly surprising 

[mora]

Until now, I felt that Potter was too passive and emotionless on the sidelines. Besides constantly clapping, he didn't do much. Just like a spectator. However, yesterday he was full of emotions, instructing the players throughout the entire game and pulling some players aside to give them specific instructions. Just as it should be.

After the final whistle, all the players were thrilled with him. I think he hasn't lost his connection with the players and they believe in him.

[ROTG]

6 hours ago, Bert19 said:

I thought that last 15-20 last night was set up perfectly for his pace to be a real asset to us as they had to step up the pitch, bringing Pulisic on before him was an odd choice made much worse by Pulisic's lack of anything useful when he did come on.  

Team GP have gone back to TT formation and selecting a majority of his playing staff.
Pulisic ahead of Mudryk was a no brainer as it was about bringing on a senior player who was used to playing the chilwell / James WB system. 

[flllerywhereru2]

12 hours ago, ROTG said:

Team GP have gone back to TT formation and selecting a majority of his playing staff.
Pulisic ahead of Mudryk was a no brainer as it was about bringing on a senior player who was used to playing the chilwell / James WB system. 

I thought that when he brought him on, though I always feel that Pullisic loses the ball too much always looking for a foul that isnt always there.