Graham Potter on the ropes at Chelsea, but confident of a comeback

Chelsea manager Graham Potter with Bashir Humpreys during the Emirates FA Cup third-round match against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on 8 January 2023. (Photo: Marc Atkins / Getty Images)

By Yanga Sibembe

10 Jan 2023

It’s been a tough transition for Graham Potter since he moved from Brighton & Hove Albion to the demands of the Chelsea job. However, the Englishman still believes in his ability to turn things around.

‘In my position, you cannot use time as an excuse. You can talk philosophy, identity, all these nice words, but you have to think in the short term as well. We are in a results game and you have to try and do your best to win.”

So said Chelsea manager Graham Potter upon his appointment as Thomas Tuchel’s replacement in September 2022.

Of course, football – similar to other sports – is ultimately about winning. Something that Potter, since making the dream switch from Brighton & Hove Albion, has not managed to do often enough in his four-month tenure in West London.

The latest defeat for Potter’s men – a resounding 4-0 loss to Manchester City in the FA Cup’s third round (the third loss by the Blues to City in two months) – has compounded the blues at the Bridge.

The London club has now only managed eight wins from 18 games with the 47-year-old in the dugout.

More worryingly, since beating Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 in their final Uefa Champions League group game back in November, the Blues have lost six of their past eight matches in all competitions. The two results that briefly halted the rotten run were a 2-0 win over Bournemouth and a draw against Nottingham Forest.

chelsea potter Graham Potter, manager of Chelsea, looks dejected after the team’s defeat during the Emirates FA Cup third-round match against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on 8 January 2023. (Photo by Naomi Baker / Getty Images)

In addition to being recently ousted from the FA Cup, Chelsea are out of the League Cup (where they were also defeated by City). Though, being twice drawn against the powerful City in the early stages of both domestic competitions is a reflection of the sort of luck Potter has had during his time in London.

In the domestic league, the situation is not much better. The five-time Premier League champions currently languish in a lowly 10th place.

They are out of the league race, and even finishing in the top four in order to attain Champions League football looks to be a distant dream – barring a miracle of biblical proportions. They trail fourth-placed Manchester United by 10 points.

It’s not great reading for the English manager who arrived in London amid promise of raising his managerial career to new heights by taking up the challenge at the two-time Champions League winners.

However, Potter is still confident of turning things around – with time – much like his counterparts Pep Guardiola at City, Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal.

“Pep was there a year before they won anything, and then obviously Mikel and Jürgen took a bit of time. It may be different for me, but I don’t put a timescale on it,” said Potter.

“I know that I’m capable and I know the quality that I have. I have the full support of the owners and the players and the staff here… There will always be people that have doubt, but I’m not here to convince anybody. I’m here to do my work. And then if that convinces them, that’s fine.”

Guardiola backed this assertion, telling journalists after his side humbled Chelsea in the FA Cup: “I know in the big clubs results are important, but I would say give him time... What he did in Brighton was outstanding. All managers need time, he is right.”

Limping along

potter chelsea struggle Potter is not the first manager to struggle after making the leap to Chelsea. (Photo: Marc Atkins / Getty Images)

Of course, during his time in charge of the Blues, Potter has hardly had all the team’s stars available to him at once – owing to injury. When he did, early in his tenure, he won five matches on the trot in all competitions (managing to avoid defeat in eight matches overall).

Until an emphatic banana-peel slip against his former side Brighton. In that match Chelsea were walloped 4-1 and have been on a downward spiral ever since.

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During this wretched run, Potter has been without vital cogs such as the brilliant but injury-prone N’Golo Kante. Largely absent during this time have also been Reece James and Ben Chilwell – who are crucial as wingbacks to the success of the Englishman’s preferred 3-5-2 formation.

Of course, some of the players who have been present have been underwhelming individually. This is particularly true of former Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

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The 33-year-old Gabonese was brought in to bolster Chelsea’s attack following the disappointing return of Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku to Stamford Bridge last season.

However, he too has failed to live up to expectations as he has scored just thrice in 15 matches across the Champions League and Premier League.

To illustrate the team’s scoring woes, of all sides in the Premier League top 10 currently, the Londoners have scored the fewest goals – netting just 20 times from their 17 matches.

Big leap

potter chelsea humphreys Chelsea manager Graham Potter with Bashir Humpreys during the Emirates FA Cup third-round match against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on 8 January 2023. (Photo: Marc Atkins / Getty Images)

Potter is not the first manager to struggle after making the leap to Chelsea.

There is also one André Villas-Boas, the Portuguese who managed the Blues for just under a year between 2011 and 2012. He was a highly rated appointment at just 34 years old, drawing comparisons with compatriot and former Chelsea/Porto manager José Mourinho at the time.

The season before joining Chelsea, Villas-Boas managed an impressive trophy haul in Porto, winning the Portuguese Premier League undefeated and claiming 27 victories from 30 matches.

In the same season he led Porto to the Europa League as well as the Portuguese Cup.

However, he only lasted one season as Chelsea’s then ruthless hierarchy relieved him of his duties before the end of the season, with a top-four finish fading fast.

Ironically, that was the same season that the club won its first Champions League trophy, under interim manager Roberto Di Matteo.

As for Potter, he still believes that the new hierarchy of Chelsea – led by American Todd Boehly – will grant him sufficient time to prove his qualities at the highest level.

“The reason for me to take the job was because you’ve got a chance to shape a club that is in a massive transitional period. With that, I knew there were going to be extreme challenges,” Potter stated.

“It’s not like I was jumping at the first opportunity to move from Brighton. This move felt like the right one because of the owners, because of the support that I thought they would give, and that’s proven to be the case, they’ve been fantastic.” DM

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Limping along

Big leap