#PotterOut: Chelsea manager already in crisis

Stuart Telford

• 10 Nov 2022 08:28 GMT
• 4 min read

Graham Potter's Chelsea have dropped 10 of the last possible 12 points in the Premier League. Nascent Newcastle are up next, and it's already beginning to look like a must-win game for the former Brighton man.

Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel as Chelsea manager in September, with the Blues' new owner Tood Boehly having had more than one transfer disagreement with the German coach after succeeding Roman Abramovich as owner in May.

The most headline-grabbing example was Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Boehly though would be a marketing masterstroke while Tuchel didn't want him from a tactical standpoint. But at least Tuchel new his best system and team.

READ: Chelsea's "Vision 2030" already in trouble

Tuchel left and European and world champion. Chelsea played wing-backs. Tuchel still needed to sort out the central striking position but that remains a problem today, alongside a litany of others.

Sterling value

Since taking the helm, Potter has tried five different formations in his 13 games in all competitions. England winger Raheem Sterling - a £47.5 million (€56.2m) acquisition from Manchester City this summer - has already been used up front and as a left wing-back, and is now nervously waiting Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad announcement.

Sterling came off the bench to play as one of two No.10s as the Blues were beaten by City in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday - their third defeat in three domestic games - and yet Potter insists things are moving in the right direction.

"Obviously we are disappointed with the result but in terms of how we played, we created some good chances and there was a better structure and a better performance level," he said.

Potter: 'a step forward'

"The team looked closer to what we want it to look like. The boys had great courage and they tried against a top team. Their keeper got the man of the match I think, which tells a bit of the story. But overall I think it was a step forward for us."

Perhaps even more worrying for Boehly and those involved at Chelsea is that Potter was meant to enact the American owner's "Vision 2030" - i.e., the signing and development of young players who would still be an asset to the Blues by the end of the decade.

If Tuchel has one Achilles heel not called Boehly, it is that his teams were packed full of players with little sell-on value. He pushed for the signings of the 33-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and 31-year-old Kalidou Koulibaly this summer.

READ: Why Omari Hutchinson deserves Chelsea chance over out-of-form Havertz

Blurred vision

But if Potter was meant to blood young players, when better to do so than in the Carabao Cup? Lewis Hall was the only youth academy player given a chance on Wednesday, with veteran players Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Hakim Ziyech and Mateo Kovacic among those who started - some if not all of them on the fringes of Chelsea's first team anyway.

Academy talents Jude Soonsup-Bell and Charlie Webster are already looking elsewhere. The former is in talks with City while the latter has publicly lamented that Tuchel is no longer around.

It may yet be too early to judge Potter. But if Boehly's wants a "Vision 2030", or indeed a winning team at all, he may have to sharpen his focus sooner than he might have liked.