Graham Potter (Now Sacked ) - *Official* New (Now Old) Chelsea Manager

[Nick05]

Some players it's impossible to sign a back up that will come even remotely close to the quality and consistency of the player you are looking to "back up". 

I said at that time Drogba left that it would  take decades before we found another striker who was even close to his all round ability. 

Some players are virtually irreplaceable. When will we find a midfielder who scores like Lampard? When will we find a centre-half who can lead like JT? When will find a midfielder like Essien who can completely dominate the opposition midfield by sheer physical strength and power. For those of us who are old enough, I don't think we have ever found a true winger who can dribble and cross with both feet like Pat Nevin did. And that was 40 years ago!

Yes it will be impossible to find another Kante to backup Kante but when we can spend hundreds of millions on redundant attacking midfielders then we could've easily got another decent defensive mid. Putting all our eggs in the Kante basket was just poor planning.

 

[just]

It's not down to Sarriball why our players don't take their chances 5 years later, we have loads of opportunities to score every game, a 20+ goal striker would love to play up front for us. Brentford has one, we need him next season.

The point Victor was making Coco, and with which I agree, is that, post Sarriball, it has taken us a long, long time to play at a consistent high tempo, move the ball forward QUICKLY and, crucially, be prepared to take attacking risks and commit players forwards in numbers ahead of the ball and get them in the opposition box. 

Lampard did it for a short period in his first spell, the downside was he couldn't balance the defensive side so it was a fail. But there is no doubt, we moved the ball forward a lot quicker. Possession based football that involves a slow build-up and generally goes nowhere is IMO the most boring football to watch. Regardless of results.

 

[coco]

A mixture, I think Sarri came with a plan and did a relatively decent job here. It was a big task to get the team playing Sarri ball.

But we've been stuck with playing this style for a long time now, and our recruitment hasn't exactly helped the situation. Why do we keep signing players who aren't tailored for the system? Werner, as piss-poor as he was a times, we saw really good performances from him when we were counter-attacking (like the Champions League win). He was never going to thrive in games where we are playing the likes of Crystal Palace which are about 80% of our fixtures. 

He constantly wanted to run onto the ball and didn't want a pass at the touchline where there are around 2-3 players on him. He didn't have the skill set to play well that way, and I fear it's the same with Mudryk but I don't think he's as limited as Werner. All the more we seem to sign players who don't suit the system. So what we needed to do was either ditch the system or signed the correct players for that system, we did neither. Our CL win came from playing our players to their strengths. 

Now would be a good time to revamp the way we play completely, with a better pattern of attacking play we might actually start to score goals from our chances, hopefully. 

Blaming Sarri for how we play now is wrong imo. 

For starters 99% of our squad have never even met Sarri. None of his staff remained, our owner and board have been replaced. Their is literally no connection between Sarri and our current set up. 

 

[coco]

The point Victor was making Coco, and with which I agree, is that, post Sarriball, it has taken us a long, long time to play at a consistent high tempo, move the ball forward QUICKLY and, crucially, be prepared to take attacking risks and commit players forwards in numbers ahead of the ball and get them in the opposition box. 

Lampard did it for a short period in his first spell, the downside was he couldn't balance the defensive side so it was a fail. But there is no doubt, we moved the ball forward a lot quicker. Possession based football that involves a slow build-up and generally goes nowhere is IMO the most boring football to watch. Regardless of results.

Just i remember your venom for Sarri, i cant really accept anything you have to say about him in good faith mate, a bit like dkw and Tuchel 

 

[Victor90]

Blaming Sarri for how we play now is wrong imo. 

For starters 99% of our squad have never even met Sarri. None of his staff remained, our owner and board have been replaced. Their is literally no connection between Sarri and our current set up. 

I'm not completely blaming him. I think it could've actually worked if we had the correct recruitment. But given that we don't, I think we need to completely ditch the system. So that's not his fault really.

 

[coco]

I'm not completely blaming him. I think it could've actually worked if we had the correct recruitment. But given that we don't, I think we need to completely ditch the system. So that's not his fault really.

All this started when Tuchel got sacked. Blame Todd.

 

[just]

Just i remember your venom for Sarri, i cant really accept anything you have to say about him in good faith mate, a bit like dkw and Tuchel 

You don't have to Coco. Just use your own memory and tell us in your opinion if it was fast, exciting, attacking based football or mostly slow and ponderous with a lot of over-playing at the back and in midfield.

 

[ducavis]

It's not down to Sarriball why our players don't take their chances 5 years later, we have loads of opportunities to score every game, a 20+ goal striker would love to play up front for us. Brentford has one, we need him next season.

Haven’t we tried the 20+ goal striker route by signing a €100 Lukaku and that didn’t work out? What we need next season is to have our all our attacking players chipping in with 10-15 goals. 
 
 

Possible, but having to rely on one player goes to show we have massive problems regardless. 

My opinion is that we've been stuck and unable to ditch this slow possession-obsessed football that Sarri first integrated.

Our work rate isn't good enough anymore, and it could explain why we have so many injuries since we became a possession team since our players are not used to running at the opposition. If you look back at the days under Conte you'll notice a massive difference in our playstyle. 

But we've not helped the situation. We seem to recruit players that want to run onto the ball and not hold it, even though our system doesn't cater towards that. The Lukaku signing was a big indicator that we don't really know what we're doing, he was never going to thrive in a system like this, forget the fact he's extremely overrated. 

But because of the lack of workrate and team cohesion from our attacking and midfield players, we've been forced to always revert to a back 3 because we just can't seem to get going in the back 4. One thing I credited Potter for was trying to stick to a back 4, but even he had to go to a back 3 eventually because the results and performances just weren't good enough. 

The back 3 for me in its current state that involves using a LWB & RWB as creative outlets has to go, it needs to be binned and never revisited it. It worked very well last season but it was more a case of it being a freak season, every single player outperformed their expected output. This season we are seeing Arsenal & City using a revised version of the back 3 to devastating effects. Think City have scored 21 goals in the last 4 games, and Arsenal 13 in the last 4 before today. They are also doing it without using any fullback at all, but pushing 4- 5 attacking & creative forces into their first 11. Pep has even said Walker doesn’t have a place in his first team. Problem is we have brainlessly spent £60m+ on Cucurella, and still have Gusto to come. Would be hilarious if in the long term only 1 of our fullbacks is a permanent fixture in the first 11.

 

[coco]

Haven’t we tried the 20+ goal striker route by signing a €100 Lukaku and that didn’t work out? What we need next season is to have our all our attacking players chipping in with 10-15 goals. 

So we just give up on strikers from now on because of Lukaku ?

You don't have to Coco. Just use your own memory and tell us in your opinion if it was fast, exciting, attacking based football or mostly slow and ponderous with a lot of over-playing at the back and in midfield.

Your talking about our football five years ago, yes it was slow and ponderous no problem agreeing.

 

[Gol15]

All this started when Tuchel got sacked. Blame Todd.

You know if Potter actually didn't happen to be the worst manager we have ever had, maybe nobody would have the need to blame anyone... But as it stands, he took the job and was literally the worst we have had. If he had been a good manager things would have been a lot different. At least Todd and co. have the means to make things right in the summer, Potter will never be able to undo this mess.

 

[coco]

You know if Potter actually didn't happen to be the worst manager we have ever had, maybe nobody would have the need to blame anyone... But as it stands, he took the job and was literally the worst we have had. If he had been a good manager things would have been a lot different. At least Todd and co. have the means to make things right in the summer, Potter will never be able to undo this mess.

Bloody hell Gol you are possessed by Potter  He's gone now so relax, have a cuppa tea and throw some darts at your Potter posters on your walls.

 

[axman2526]

It's not down to Sarriball why our players don't take their chances 5 years later, we have loads of opportunities to score every game, a 20+ goal striker would love to play up front for us. Brentford has one, we need him next season.

Good in theory coco, not so much if Toney is banned for 6 months though which has been rumoured.

We should also remember it is not just Todd but the Eggman, who we know to be heavily involved, that keep Making stupid calls.

One good transfer between them in window 1, their directors manage 2 in window 2. For 600mill that is atrocious, as is sacking TT when they did, sacking Potter when they did, and appointing Lamps to appease the fans/shift blame from their own worthless hides 

 

[Frankie8Lampard]

Haven’t we tried the 20+ goal striker route by signing a €100 Lukaku and that didn’t work out? What we need next season is to have our all our attacking players chipping in with 10-15 goals. 

Not sure I agree. I think Man City is the only team that has won a PL that way and even they seem to be turning that route by signing Haaland. Every other team that has won the PL in the last decade has done so with at least one 20+ striker/forward.

 

[ducavis]

Not sure I agree. I think Man City is the only team that has won a PL that way and even they seem to be turning that route by signing Haaland. Every other team that has won the PL in the last decade has done so with at least one 20+ striker/forward.

Liverpool won with Firmino leading the line, this Arsenal team also has Jesus with 8 league goals. What these two teams had/have are high scoring wingers & midfielders. Martinelli is on 14, Saka on 12, and Odegaard on 10 goals. Salah scored 19, & Mane 18 league goals in their title winning season.

it’s easy to say we need a 20+ forward, the reality is there is a dearth of No 9 in football presently. You take out the oldies like Lewandowski, & Benzema, and Haaland, and you would struggle to come up with 5 top No 9s. 

 

[jack_super_class]

This season was a write off. Why were people so concerned over results when we weren't good enough to ever get top 4 even under Tuchel. Nobody wants Europa league or conference league anyway, Potter should of been judged next season

 

[Bob stark]

Victor, this paragraph here. Bravo. Total agreement. I have always said Sarriball took us backwards not forward.

I don't think the way we play right now is because sarri drilled them to play tippy tappy ball but sarri has impact through his signing. For a while, jorgi was our only sitting dm and there is only one way to play with jorgi.

 

[Gol15]

I don't think the way we play right now is because sarri drilled them to play tippy tappy ball but sarri has impact through his signing. For a while, jorgi was our only sitting dm and there is only one way to play with jorgi.

Sarri inherited a back 3 squad of Conte that was a complete counter-attacking team. He's the only one that managed to play a 4-3-3 with success with that squad and did it by playing a possession-based style. I can only imagine how much more he would have done had he stayed as he is a top quality manager, he made the foundation of Napoli's style that is now going to win the domestic league and Lazio is right behind them as the second best team.

Jorginho proved himself for every manager he has played for regardless of the system. Potter on the other hand, proved to be the biggest downgrade in football history.

 

[abister1]

Sarri inherited a back 3 squad of Conte that was a complete counter-attacking team. He's the only one that managed to play a 4-3-3 with success with that squad and did it by playing a possession-based style. I can only imagine how much more he would have done had he stayed as he is a top quality manager, he made the foundation of Napoli's style that is now going to win the domestic league and Lazio is right behind them as the second best team.

Jorginho proved himself for every manager he has played for regardless of the system. Potter on the other hand, proved to be the biggest downgrade in football history.

Sarri is a very good manager. He would have been perfect for this team. 

Like you say he revolutionised Napoli and has Lazio being at their most scintillating and also performing their best in decades. 

Had a season with us where for more than half of his tenure he was subjected to boos from his own fanbase in the stadium and yet finished in top 4 with a continental  cup to boot. Yes he resigned but his detractors always omit the fact that he was unlikely to want to continue in that toxic environment, with a lack of respect by both fans and press alike. 

Lampard's job was made easy with coming right after him in my opinion that first season. 

 

[just]

Liverpool won with Firmino leading the line, this Arsenal team also has Jesus with 8 league goals. What these two teams had/have are high scoring wingers & midfielders. Martinelli is on 14, Saka on 12, and Odegaard on 10 goals. Salah scored 19, & Mane 18 league goals in their title winning season.

it’s easy to say we need a 20+ forward, the reality is there is a dearth of No 9 in football presently. You take out the oldies like Lewandowski, & Benzema, and Haaland, and you would struggle to come up with 5 top No 9s. 

It doesn't have to be a 20+ forward. Though that would be great. It needs to be a focal point. Someone who can hold the ball up and play in others around him. Jesus is a fantastic player in this regard for someone his size. Sane was very similar. Someone who knows where and when to run, anticipates the ball in and around the box, is cool and calm when the chance arrives. Someone who is a "natural" instinctive finisher.

We don't have that player anywhere in our squad. Every other EPL team do.

 

[Bob stark]

Haven’t we tried the 20+ goal striker route by signing a €100 Lukaku and that didn’t work out? What we need next season is to have our all our attacking players chipping in with 10-15 goals. 
 
 

The back 3 for me in its current state that involves using a LWB & RWB as creative outlets has to go, it needs to be binned and never revisited it. It worked very well last season but it was more a case of it being a freak season, every single player outperformed their expected output. This season we are seeing Arsenal & City using a revised version of the back 3 to devastating effects. Think City have scored 21 goals in the last 4 games, and Arsenal 13 in the last 4 before today. They are also doing it without using any fullback at all, but pushing 4- 5 attacking & creative forces into their first 11. Pep has even said Walker doesn’t have a place in his first team. Problem is we have brainlessly spent £60m+ on Cucurella, and still have Gusto to come. Would be hilarious if in the long term only 1 of our fullbacks is a permanent fixture in the first 11.

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I don't think there is one way to do it.

If you want everyone to score 10+ goal then I agree with you, it is very difficult to stick with 343 as asking your wb to score goals and defend their box the whole season is unrealistic.