When Graham Potter got the nod to take over as the Blues’ manager following predecessor Thomas Tuchel’s shock sacking in September last year, it was a dream come true.
“I am incredibly proud and excited to represent Chelsea FC, this fantastic football club,” Potter said at the time.
“I am very excited to partner with Chelsea’s new ownership group and look forward to meeting and working with the exciting group of players and to develop a team and culture that our amazing fans can be proud of.”
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Fast forward just four months and suddenly what started out as a dream is quickly turning into a nightmare as key injuries, a lack of creativity and direction, and a string of poor results have combined to pile on the pressure for Potter as he faces questions over his job security.
Chelsea have had 29 permanent managers, with Danny Blanchflower holding the unwanted records of both the shortest (32 games) and statistically least successful (win percentage of just 16) reign in the club’s rich 119 year history.
While Blanchflower’s win percentage record is safe for the time being (Potter’s win percentage currently sits at 44), his nearly 50-year record for shortest number of games in charge could be under threat should Potter fail to find a way to turn around Chelsea’s alarming form of late.
Although it would seem highly unlikely that the former Brighton & Hove Albion manager will be sacked in the next 14 games (he currently has been in charge for 18 games), the possibility can’t be ruled out for a proud club like Chelsea, who hold the EPL record for most manager changes (18*) and trail only Tottenham and Newcastle for most manager changes in-season (11*).
*Excludes caretaker managers
With pressure mounting on the Blues’ manager ahead of Friday morning’s (all times AEDT) crucial West London derby against Fulham at Craven Cottage following Monday’s humiliating FA Cup thrashing at the hands of reigning Premier League champions Manchester City, Fox Football takes a look at the state of play at Chelsea.
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THE HONEYMOON PERIOD
When a consortium headed by American billionaire Todd Boehly, who is a part owner in three major Los Angeles based sports franchises (Baseball’s Dodgers as well as Basketball teams the Lakers and Sparks), agreed to buy Chelsea FC for a record $7.5 billion from owner Roman Abramovich it signalled the beginning of a new chapter in the Premier League club’s history.
With new ownership comes new direction and changes were afoot as a result. Long-serving chairman Bruce Buck and director Marina Granovskaia were the first members of senior management to depart Stamford Bridge in the wake of the takeover, followed shortly after by club legend and former technical and performance advisor Petr Cech (recently replaced by Christopher Vivell).
A few months later it was former manager Thomas Tuchel who was shown the door in a bombshell sacking after a slow start to the EPL season and a dismal 1-0 defeat in the opening group stage match of this year’s Champions League competition. That was despite the 49-year-old German having guided the club to their second Champions League title in May 2021 as well as winning the Club World Cup, reaching two domestic cup finals and leading the team to a third-place finish in the Premier League last season.
Making the move even more of a shock was that the new ownership had seemingly backed Tuchel heavily in the transfer market, splashing out around £270 million ($A461m) on nine signings during the summer.
However, less than 48 hours after Tuchel was unceremoniously fired, Graham Potter was appointed as Chelsea’s new manager on a five-year contract after the club triggered the Englishman’s contract release clause to poach the 47-year-old manager from Premier League rivals Brighton and Hove Albion.
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New owner and Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly said at the time he was “thrilled” to bring Potter on board, having hand picked the man that would seemingly take the club in the direction he wanted for the forseeable future.
“He is a proven coach and an innovator in the Premier League who fits our vision for the club,” he said.
“Not only is he extremely talented on the pitch, he has skills and capabilities that extend beyond the pitch which will make Chelsea a more successful club.”
Tuchel’s relationships with his players had reportedly deteriorated and there were tensions with the club hierarchy which ultimately led to his sacking.
Recruiting Potter from Brighton was a statement of intent, one the hierarchy wanted the dressing room to hear, see and read.
Potter, too, was given the promisses and assurances he sought. That he would be given time to rebuild, to finesse, to shape the squad in his image.
The coaching change looked like a masterstroke when the new manager began his Chelsea reign with a nine-game unbeaten run (6 wins and 3 draws) in which the West London side scored 15 goals and conceded just 3 goals to sit just outside the top four in the premier league and having secured their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League. The honeymoon period was all sunshine and rainbows as Potter was being lauded for his frequent tactical changes and seemingly single handedly turning around the team’s fortunes. Unfortunately for both Potter and Chelsea, the honeymoon period was about to come to an abrupt end.
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THE TURNING POINT
Ironically it was a league match against Potter’s former side Brighton which proved to be the catalyst for the Blues’ dramatic dip in form, with a shock 4-1 away thrashing at the hands of the southeastern team well and truly burst the honeymoon bubble – and would send Chelsea on a downward spiral.
The Blues would only win one of their next four games following the loss to Brighton, registering three straight losses (including a 2-0 third-round defeat to Manchester City in the English league) as they headed into the six-week-long World Cup break in a free fall.
As the Premier League took a long deep breath while all eyes were on Qatar, the club hoped that Potter would use this time to properly assess his squad, finally settle on his team’s preferred tactics, work out where things had gone wrong prior to the break, and hopefully rediscover Chelsea’s winning mojo once play resumed.
A 2-0 home win first up against a lacklustre Bournemouth inspired hope that things were back on track, but it proved to be a false dawn as a disappointing 1-1 away draw with lowly Nottingham Forest was followed by back-to-back defeats to Manchester City inside the space of a week.
In hindsight, the warning signs were still there in the Bournemouth win as star defender Reece James had made an impressive return from a knee problem that forced him out of contention for England’s World Cup squad, leading the Blues to a 2-0 halftime lead, only to sustain a leg injury early in the second half that left James lying on his back disconsolately before making his way off the pitch. Chelsea didn’t look like the same team in the second half following the 23-year-old’s injury, nor have they in their three games since.
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THE TIPPING POINT
Despite having only registered two wins in their last eight matches either side of the World Cup break, with the Blues only having scored a measly six goals while conceding 11 to their opposition during that stretch, their was still a faint optimism amongst fans that Chelsea could cause an upset in their third-round FA Cup clash against Manchester City on Monday morning (AEDT).
This was only heightened by the decision from opposing manager Pep Guardiola to start the match with stars Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and goalkeeper Ederson on the bench as well as leaving John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo out of the starting lineup.
Chelsea as a club aren’t known for their patience when it comes to getting results and generally their supporters don’t long tolerate losing considering their recent history of success, but both the club and it’s fans can stomach a hard-fought loss from their team such as the 1-0 home loss to Man City late last week (especially when injuries to key players have ravaged the first-choice squad). What they won’t put up with however, no matter who is in the lineup, is the sort of insipid performance displayed in the 4-0 belting they received from the defending Premier League champions.
It summed up all that has gone wrong for Chelsea this term: a team depleted by injuries, uncertain in its structure, unable to get the ball up the pitch into dangerous areas and toothless in the final third.
Languishing in 10th in the Premier League – 10 points adrift of the top four – and now out of both domestic cup competitions at the first hurdle for the first time since 1989, a section of Chelsea’s travelling fans were heard singing the name of former boss Thomas Tuchel and ex-owner Roman Abramovich during their Etihad capitulation.
It wasn’t just fans who savaged the Blues’ performance against City, as many football pundits criticised both the team and the manager, with some even comparing Potter’s Chelsea stint to that of David Moyes during his disastrous season in charge of Manchester United.
The leap from Everton to United was too big for Moyes, and Potter now looks like he also needed a stepping stone between Brighton and Chelsea, rather than making such a huge move without the required experience.
Much like during Moyes tenure at the Red Devils, Potter has failed to win the big games during his reign so far with the league loss to Man City meaning Chelsea are yet to beat a top-half team this season across seven matches and they didn’t lay a glove on Pep Guardiola’s side across two cup ties.
Former England striker Alan Shearer described the first-half display as “unacceptable”, “embarrassing” and “pathetic”, while Potter himself admitted Chelsea were “clearly suffering as a football club”.
Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara went a step further by saying he believes that Graham Potter looks “completely out of his depth” at Chelsea.
“Shambles, the lot of you. An absolute shambles. They’re miles of it, aren’t they?,” he said on talkSPORT Breakfast.
“Look, Graham Potter has gone in and I thought that Graham Potter deserved the opportunity because he did a really got job at Brighton and got them playing some fantastic football, but he goes to Chelsea and he looks completely out of his depth.
“I’m so surprised because I really thought he was going to do a good job.”
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O’Hara went on to say that it is an indictment on the new manager that the side appear to have gone backwards since Potter took over from Tuchel.
“It’s like Potter has gone in and tried to make them like Brighton, but he’s doing a bad job.
“The buck stops with the manager at the end of the day. They had Thomas Tuchel who, with this team, barring a few that left like Rudiger, won the Champions League with this team and these players.
“I look at Graham Potter. They were fifth when he came in and they’re now tenth and 19 points away from the leaders.”
If Potter fails to right the ship and his Chelsea tenure is cut short in the same vein as his predecessor, then this result will likely be looked back on as the moment which signalled the beginning of the end.
WHAT HE SAID
After the game Potter acknowledged that while injuries are a factor, the team’s performances aren’t where they need to be.
“The results in a small space of time are not positive,” he said.
“You can make excuses and look for reasons or say it isn’t good enough. Both of those answers are correct.
“We have to keep improving and stick together because clearly we are suffering as a football club and it’s not nice at all. But that’s where we are at the moment.”
In response to a post-match question about the fans booing as well as chanting Tuchel and Abramovich’s names, Potter refused to bite instead playing it with a straight bat.
“We can’t do anything apart from do our jobs better and work harder,” he said.
“We understand the supporters’ frustration, that is understandable and we’ll respect that.
“Our job is to do our jobs, to keep working, see the situation for what it is, and of course there are always other opinions, negativity and criticism because the results haven’t been positive. That’s part of the job and the challenge.”
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CRUCIAL MONTH AHEAD
Across the past eight rounds of Premier League games, Chelsea have the fewest wins and have scored the fewest goals. Brentford, Brighton and Nottingham Forest are among the teams to have taken points off them during that streak.
It’s their worst league run since 2010, to go with their first FA Cup third-round exit since 1999.
They are alarming statistics and unwanted records in what is quickly turning into a disastrous season.
Chelsea, still club world champions, reached both domestic cup finals and finished best of the rest behind Man City and Liverpool last season. This is an incredible drop-off.
Already under immense pressure following the Man City debacle earlier this week, and still missing a host of first-choice players through injury (The Blues are currently without injured players Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, N’Golo Kante, Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic among others), Potter faces what shapes as a make or break month for both the club and the under-fire manager’s job security.
Having gone out to Manchester City at the first stage in both domestic cup competitions, Chelsea now face a crucial run of Premier League games over the next five weeks to try to improve results before they play Borussia Dortmund in the last 16 of the Champions League.
The Blues travel to west London rivals Fulham, who are above them in the table but have not won a west London derby in 21 attempts since a 1-0 victory back in March 2006 at Craven Cottage, in a must-win clash before hosting Crystal Palace on Sunday. After facing Liverpool at Anfield, they then host Fulham and play strugglers West Ham.
WHERE TO FROM HERE
Former Ostersunds FK and Swansea City manager Potter led Brighton to ninth place last season, the highest top-flight finish in the club’s history.
He guided them to fourth in the table this season – after winning four, drawing one and losing one of their first six Premier League games – before joining Chelsea in October.
However a manager previously mooted as a potential future England boss is coming under increasing pressure after just eight wins from his first 18 matches at Chelsea.
What’s worse than the results is that the club severely lacks any creativity through the midfield and lack the necessary quality in attack as evidenced the fact the Blues have scored just 20 Premier League goals this season, the joint lowest tally in the top 11, are 16th in the shots on goal table – 186 compared to Manchester City’s 301 – and 14th for big chances created – 27 compared to City’s 61.
Frustating Blues fans even further is the club’s record and play at home this season. Only Bournemouth have had fewer shots at home in the Premier League; only Wolves have had fewer shots on target on their own patch. This has resulted in Chelsea having won just eight of their 16 home Premier League games in 2022, the fewest wins they’ve managed at home since 1996.
The team’s creativity and attacking issues have only been further exacerbated by injuries to Chelsea’s two most influential players, N’Golo Kante and Reece James.
The absence of James, with no like-for-like replacement at right wing-back, has been especially damaging, robbing the Blues of one of their key attackers and limiting their ability to execute a wing-back system.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given all of the injuries, no Premier League manager has made more changes to his team since October 1, when Potter took charge of Chelsea for the first time in a league game.
That inconsistency in selection and formation – Chelsea have started in seven different set-ups under Potter – has done little for the team’s stability of performance.
Potter called it the most challenging period of his career.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it,” he said about the injury crisis last week.
The manager undoubtedly has a lengthy injury list but still has enough quality and experience at his disposal to do much better than suffer six losses in nine games.
While the pressure is well and truly mounting at Stamford Bridge, Potter found unlikely support in the form of his opposition manager after the game on Monday.
“I would say to Todd Boehly, ‘give him time’,” Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said.
“I know in big clubs, results are important but I’d say give him time.
“The second half is what he is. What he’s done at Brighton is outstanding, but…we need time in the first season. I had (Lionel) Messi in Barcelona my first season so I didn’t need two seasons because Messi was there.”
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Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer agrees with Guardiola, and believes what Chelsea saw in Potter four months ago should still be valid now.
“They have to stick with him, it would be crazy to do anything else. They have spent a fortune again but are lacking someone who can put the ball in the back of the net.,” Shearer said.
“They have to stick together and stick with him and give him time to turn it around. There is a reason they went for him, a reason they took all his staff with him and they have to give him time.”
Meanwhile, new owner Boehly, has certainly dipped his hand into his pocket for transfers but there appears little clear structure or strategy to his policy and Chelsea are feeling the impact of losing much experience from their boardroom as well as a manager regarded as one of the game’s elite.
Significant spending this January seems a necessity and an inevitability, with Benoit Badiashile already brought in, but given Chelsea’s raft of problems, it is hard to believe that money can solve their issues anytime soon.
That would mean more short-term pain for Chelsea supporters – and this is a club where patience has historically been in short supply. Writing off a season, even before it’s even reached its halfway point, is not acceptable at Chelsea.
If Potter is to survive, it could be an extremely rocky few weeks or even months ahead.
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WAITING IN THE WINGS
Even by Chelsea’s standards, sacking Graham Potter before the end of the season would be a quick dismissal. The 47-year-old, who only took over from Thomas Tuchel in September, is second-favourite with the bookmakers to be the next coach sacked after Everton’s Frank Lampard.
It hasn’t helped that some pundits and former Chelsea players are calling for an instant improvement, none more vociferously than Blues’ legend Frank Leboeuf who insists Potter should be sacked.
“Mr Potter, enough is enough now, something needs to be changed,” the 54-year-old Frenchman said on ESPN.
“That’s not the club I know. You are so far away from being a Champion of Europe. I’m very upset with what I see. I think it’s really disrespectful.
“They don’t do anything to at least make people proud. Fight! Go for it!”
Safe to say if former owner Roman Abramovich were still the man in charge at Stamford Bridge, then Leboeuf would’ve already had his wish as Potter no doubt would’ve been given his marching orders.
However, as things stand, Potter still has the backing of the Chelsea board, according to a report by BBC journalist Alistair Magowan.
But as Chelsea fans know all too well, the ruthless nature of the Premier League is an unforgiving one and the landscape often shifts quickly if results don’t match expectations, which only adds to the importance of the next month of league matches as well as the Champions League round of 16 matchup with Dortmund.
This campaign has been a crushing blow for supporters and also for new owner Todd Boehly, given the huge sums he invested to take over from Abramovich – and the knock-on costs of missing out on Champions League football next season, should Chelsea fail to make the top four, will be extremely expensive.
In fact the club is on track to miss out on Europe altogether for just the second time this century, which is why should Potter fail to turn things around soon, then the faith and patience shown by the new management group may run out and another managerial change could be on the cards before season’s end.
If the worst case scenario was to eventuate for Potter, then there is no shortage of quality candidates who could be in line to take his place.
For starters there’s former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, who has been out of work since leaving PSG at the end of last season, and is currently a heavy betting favourite to become the next Chelsea manager. According to a report by the Sun, the 50-year-old Argentine would be willing to become the Chelsea manager should the club decide to part ways with Potter.
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Second favourite in the betting market is Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers who has obvious history with the Blues, having managed their reserves during 2006 and 2008. While the Foxes’ poor start to the season could be seen as a negative, the 49-year-old Northern Irishman and former Celtic manager is highly regarded after his successful stints with the Scottish Premiership side (where he won seven successive trophies including the first ever ‘Double Treble’ – a treble in two consecutive seasons – in Scottish football history) and Leicester City (leading the team to two consecutive fifth-place premier league finishes and the club’s first FA Cup title in their history).
Longtime Atlético Madrid boss Diego Simeone is third favourite according to oddsmakers with the 52-year-old boasting an impressive resume at the Spanish club – winning La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey, two UEFA Europa Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, as well as being runner-up of the UEFA Champions League twice – despite competing year in year out with world football giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Simeone is the longest-serving manager in La Liga, having stayed over a decade at Atlético, and is reportedly the highest paid coach in the world on £36.2m ($A 63.6m) a year. Perhaps more intriguing is that Simeone has reportedly told the Spanish club chiefs he will leave at the end of the season with the team suffering from poor results in both La Liga and the Champions League, according to Spanish reporter Paco Garcia Caridad. “Simeone will not continue at Atleti in the coming season,” Caridad said. “He has told [President] Gil Marin that he will leave in January.”
Another highly credentialed manager who is available should Chelsea need a new manager is French legend Zinedine Zidane. Having been out of work since leaving Real Madrid at the end of the 2020-21 season, Zizou appeared to be waiting for the France job, but has been snubbed by the French Federation who opted to extend Didier Deschamps’ deal to 2026.
This could open the door to a return to club management for the 50-year-old who is not only widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, but is also one of the most successful coaches in the world, having won several trophies and broken a number of records during his two spells in charge of spanish giants Real Madrid (including having won two La Liga titles and three consecutive Champions League crowns).
Known for his tactical style – characterized by its formation flexibility and attacking football – as well as his ability to unite the dressing room and his use of in-game substitutions, if Zidane does decide he wants to coach again, then Todd Boehly should do everything in his power to get him to Stamford Bridge.
Finally, while dwelling on the past is often never healthy, sometimes you need to go backwards to go forwards. Although not as strong of a chance as those listed above, bookmakers haven’t completely ruled out the possibility of Boehly deciding a reunion with one of the club’s former managers is the best option for Chelsea should Potter depart. Both Thomas Tuchel and Jose Mourinho lead the next line of betting in the race to become the Blues’ boss.
The latter, despite being fired twice by the West London club, is a much more likely option to return considering the recent change in management and the fact he has had success in both his stints as manager of the club. It was only a matter of months ago that the 59-year-old Roma boss publicly declared his love still for his former club where he won three Premier League titles and eight trophies during his time at Stamford Bridge. “Of course, my English connection is Chelsea, that’s the way I see things, as a Chelsea man after two periods of Chelsea and six years,” he told BT Sport in May last year.
A reunion between Chelsea and Tuchel would appear highly unlikely given that only four months have passed since his shock sacking and the fact that it would require Boehly – an extremely wealthy and successful businessman – to swallow his pride and admit he made a mistake in order to repair their fractured relationship, but stranger things have happened so wise to never say never.
After all the 49-year-old German manager was extremely successful during his 18 months in charge – leading the club to their second Champions League title, two minor trophies, and two runner-up finishes in both domestic cup competitions – and it is clear after Monday that Chelsea fans in the away end at Man City appeared to yearn for their club’s former boss. The man himself in fact begged the new management to reconsider their decision to fire him back in September.
“I am devastated that my time at Chelsea has come to an end.” he said in the aftermath. “This is a club where I felt at home, both professionally and personally. Thank you so much to all the staff, the players and the supporters for making me feel very welcome from the start. The pride and joy I felt at helping the team to win the Champions League and the Club World Cup will stay with me forever. I am honoured to have been a part of this club’s history and whatever the future holds for me, the memories of the last 18 months will always have a special place in my heart.”