A recap of the absolute shocker at Stamford Bridge of Chelsea V Southhampton.
From the stands at The Bridge yesterday, it was very clear the patience and backing of the Chelsea supporters for Graeme Potter is fast waning. Boos rang out at half time, and even more of them at full time. I was one of them.
Are the boos justified?
The squad
There are still many that are pointing to the fact that he is having to knit together a very large number of new players. Although I give this some credence, I point to the job Steve Cooper is doing at Forest. They have an entirely new squad (double the number of players signed over the last two windows than Chelsea) and given most would expect Chelsea and Forest to be at opposite ends of the table, Chelsea are only 6 points and 3 places ahead of Forest. Their respective forms are also polar opposite, with Forest unbeaten at home since September, and with 11 points from the last 6 games, to Chelsea’s 6 points and having just lost to managerless bottom of the league Southampton at home. So yes, he has a tough hand delt, but he should be doing much better.
Looking to next season already?
I have been wondering if he has been told this season is a write off and to prepare for next season, when Boehly & Co would be expecting to be challenging for the title all the way through the season. In the starting XI yesterday, Fernandez is 22 years old, Badiashile is 21, Madueke and David Fofana are 20. Debatably only Fernandez is in the strongest starting XI of a fully fit squad. So are they being given ‘free hit’ experience so they are in a much more mature place for a defining next season?
If they are, I actually love this move, but not yet! I would have done this after playing the strongest XI for the next few games and see if getting into Europe is still possible, and if so, keep playing the strongest XI until it is not even remotely likely.
Why were James and Sterling not started? Sterling came on for the second half and was hands down the best player on the pitch (until Potter switched him to the right flank to make space for Mudryk and Sterling became less effective, another question mark I have over the tactics of Potter).
This game was against bottom of the table, managerless Southampton, at home. Play your best team, score some hugely overdue goals, get the win and build some confidence. Also get the supporters back on side.
Potter will point to all the chances created, and then say ‘what more can I do as the manager’? But if Sterling had started and James was on the other flank to Chilwell, I have little doubt the outcome of the game would have been different.
The good news, in a way, was that in the first half the brightest players on the pitch were the three youngest. Although this highlights the lack of confidence of the rest of the squad. Again, so play your strongest XI from the start and get the win.
Potter scoring own goals
Much of the above is up for debate, but what shone through yesterday is a lack of preparation for things that can be pre-determined. It does not take a genius to know the largest threat of a Southampton goal comes from a Ward-Prowse free kick from a central position around the D. You know he is right footed, and nearly every time he goes over the wall to his left, the keepers right. Basic game prep. Now it is not Potters fault that Mount, running around like a spaniel and flying into tackles (like Gallagher most of the time), gives away a freekick in exactly the wrong place. As soon as the foul was made, everyone around me knew exactly what was to follow.
Given all that is known by us as just supporters, why oh why do you have on the right hand side of the wall, the part which Ward-Prowse needs to go over to get the whip on the ball of his freekick style, do Chelsea have Azpilicueta and Chilwell in that part of the wall?!? 101 planning fail, and that is the coaching staff’s fault. Either they have not prepared, or they can’t get key messages to stick with players from before the game, or can’t communicate effectively during the game.
At this stage, it is so important to call out that I hope that Azpilicueta is ok and makes a full and speedy recovery. It should also be noted how quick the medics were, and amazing for the Southampton medics to also rush out and help.
But this sad event raised 101 failure #2, fully levelled at the coaching staff. You should see Wesley Fofana and a few other Chelsea players were pretty distraught looking at what was going on. Players cannot help the medics in that situation, the medics need the space and the players head space needs to be kept clear.
1 – why did the Chelsea staff not collect up all of their players and keep them away from the medical scene?
2 – given the stoppage was 10 minutes long, why did they not use the time to strategise with the players the best way to get back into the game?
The second point was made very embarrassingly clear when as soon as play resumed, a double substitution was made and the formation was shifted to a back 3 (don’t even get me started on why on earth you would have Chalobah as the middle of a back three….again, tactics failure). Chilwell was visibly none the wiser he was being substituted, which just highlighted up the lack of strong leadership and management by Potter and his team.
Should Potter be kept?
I would like to start by saying I don’t wish any manager ill fortune at all, and it is the same with Potter who seems like a lovely chap. But in my analysis, I actually think he might not be the right man for the job.
He did a wonderful job at Brighton last year to get them from 16th in the season before to 9th last season, with 10 more points notched up. But if I am being very critical, was it all him? With transfers, Brighton are arguably less strong that last season. Last season under Potter they achieved 1.34 points per game. This season under De Zerbi, they are currently in 7th place and earning 1.59 points per game.
He also likes having small squads to work with. Yes, Chelsea will have a clear out of a few players around the edge of the squad, but the goal is constant Champions League and being in 4 competitions for most of each season, so a small squad is not going to cut it to give the owners what they want in terms of silverware.
Then there is Cucarella…. He is a shadow of who he was at Brighton under Potter. It has come out that his house was broken into, and I am a huge supporter of mental wellbeing. But I am sorry, that does not impact you so you now completely stop to even attempt to beat a man, and just pass backwards or sideways. Potter has managed him at both places, but he cannot get out of him his full potential at Chelsea, for whatever reason. How many players does this also apply to?
Potter still seems not to have control of the dressing room / training / culture after half a year in charge.
Does changing manager mid-season actually work?
Aston Villa – Emary taking over from Gerrard has shown some upward trajectory already for Villa with them already back to being mid table, with an outside chance of the European places (7 points off 7th place). So this seems like a successful change.
Bournemouth – Yes they got hammered by Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal early in the season, but any newly promoted side should not be focussing on those games. Forest came up with them and have been on the end to very similar hammerings at the start of the season as well. Forest kept the faith with Copper and extended his contract when many had him pegged to be sacked, and they have fantastic form since that contract extension. O’Neill does not seem to be doing better than Parker had been by much, so this is pretty inconclusive.
Everton – Dyche has picked up 2 wins from 3 games and Everton have already started some upward momentum. Changing even at this stage of the season has given Everton a chance of staying up (with only 1 home game left vs the bottom 9 teams, I still think they are in serious trouble).
Leeds – No new manager yet surprisingly. But given any manager appointment other than Skubala, who is in temporary charge, have odds of 4/1 or longer, it seems Skubala is likely to be kept. On the evidence of the first 3 games, he has no new ideas and Leeds have the same inability to turn performances into wins. If Skubala is to be kept, I would have kept Marsch given the differences in experience.
Southampton – Also no new manager, although the original switch of manager from Hasenhuttl to Jones seems to have done absolutely nothing to help Southampton, who are routed to the bottom of the table. Only a win under the temporary manager, Selles, has given them some connectivity with the teams above them. Not a good move to switch from Hasenhuttl. The odds are even more polarising than for Leeds to favour keeping the temporary manager in the job permanently.
Wolves – So far, it seems that Lopetegui has been a very good switch from Lage, with Wolves now out of the relegation zone and scoring goals, there major problem of recent time.
What I take from this is do not just change your manager for the sake of it, without a clear idea of the problems you are looking to fix and have the right person already lined up. But with good planning, it can be successful.
My verdict
I would instruct Potter to play his strongest XI and put him on notice for the games against Spurs, Leeds and Dortmund. Chelsea should beat Leeds and Dortmund at home, and that should be the benchmark to him keeping his job. In the meantime, I would be lining up a manager that is great at man management, working with a decent sized squad and wonderful at developing young exceptional talent.
This will mean that either Potter has turned the corner, or a new manager can come in and use the rest of this season to get to know all the players, imprint their own style on the squad and team, blood the youngsters more and have a fully planned pre-season to attack the league will full force next season.
I’ll leave it to you for now to suggest who that right person would be if Potter doesn’t turn it around in the next 3 games!
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