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Should Graham Potter be sacked?

4 months in, terrible football with no sign of improvement after the World Cup, youngsters aren't ev

  • Yes, this isn't good enough

    Votes: 32 36.0%

  • No, he should be given more time

    Votes: 57 64.0%
  • Total voters
    89
loz said:
In the words of Luca, in football you don't lose, you learn.

Wise words Luca, and always true to some extent. Some times more than others. Some games you put up a great contest, lose but walk away with your head held high and valuable experience and lessons learned.

Then there is today, walk off, utterly humiliated after putting in a performance that wouldn't look out of place in the great book of French Military Victories.

Couple of performances by the youngsters are a bit of a good lesson learned however the main thing we learned is something we already knew. In our senior players we have no leadership, no stomach for the fight and absolutely f**k all sense of pride.

It's f**king embarrassing to see the likes of Hall trying to make an impression on a game when players with the experience of Jorginho, Koulibaly, Ziyech, Havertz and Mount have signed off within 15 minutes of the game starting. 

Mount aside, and he is only saved through age and a hope he can rediscover his ability, the other four need shipped in the summer.

Jorginho was a disgrace today. Captain my arse. Every minute he plays for us is a wasted opportunity to play...bloody anyone else. 

I know there is a growing push for Potter to be punted and that's understandable given the results and performances we are seeing but f**k me Tuchel incrementally built a squad not fit for purpose.
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Great Post but wasn't Koulibaly the only Tuchel signing from the group you cited, and realistically he never got to work with him anyway.

With you on everything else though.

 
OriginalS said:
What if he's lost the dressing room before that? Would you still back him?
Simply wondering.

Mount for example, have you ever seen him this lethargic for us? Who knows what's going on but he's got some quality players available to him at the moment as well and there is just nothing anywhere. I don't even see effort, I use Mount as the current example as he always gave 110% whenever he was on the field for our former manager but there are obviously others as well.
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Or to take this point on a step. What if Potter sells Mount in January and buys Trossard. Do we see this as part of a transition. 

 
I remember all the abuse (ok not really, disagreement lol), I got for calling for Pochettino.

In hindsight , he would have been a much better option. Nothing flashy, just someone who'd get the players structured, working really hard (high distance covered) and knowing their roles in a fairly straight forward higher line 4-2-3-1 pressing shape. It wouldn't have been as frilly, but we would have definitely played much closer to our ability level and not underperformed to this level.

Instead we (the club) decided to go for the experimental back 3, wingers as wing-backs guy right in the middle of an injury crisis and on the back of bringing half a new squad of players in, none of which the manager picked himself (unless the rumours of them bringing in Cucurella in on Potter's advice were true). It hasn't worked and if it will work, will probably need months more, another heap of new signings and alot of patience to work.

I voted stay until the end of the season, but the more I think about it........the more i'm thinking it's a case of "good manager, wrong club, wrong time" and with all the upheaval, a steady set of hands rather than a (relative, at this level) "rookie manager" makes more sense at this point in time.

 
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WhiteWall said:
Having got his first win against...you know who, I think he ended up 8th, league Cup and Europa Cup final, I think. Is this the bar to measure Potter by then. He still has to go some to make this. 
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Top 8 or top 10 is the same thing for us, Potter will need to get more wins next season and specially if we do sign a lot of new players.

 
Qaz said:
I remember all the abuse (ok not really, disagreement lol), I got for calling for Pochettino.

In hindsight , he would have been a much better option. Nothing flashy, just someone who'd get the players structured, working really hard (high distance covered) and knowing their roles in a fairly straight forward higher line 4-2-3-1 pressing shape. It wouldn't have been as frilly, but we would have definitely played much closer to our ability level and not underperformed to this level.

Instead we (the club) decided to go for the experimental back 3, wingers as wing-backs guy right in the middle of an injury crisis and on the back of bringing half a new squad of players in, none of which the manager picked himself (unless the rumours of them bringing in Cucurella in on Potter's advice were true). It hasn't worked and if it will work, will probably need months more, another heap of new signings and alot of patience to work.

I voted stay until the end of the season, but the more I think about it........the more i'm thinking it's a case of "good manager, wrong club, wrong time" and with all the upheaval, a steady set of hands rather than a (relative, at this level) "rookie manager" makes more sense at this point in time.
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Wrong time is probably one of the biggest factors IMO. Boehly didn't do Potter any favours by dumping him into a club that already had a lot of issues with its squad without having a preseason or any transfer window. Hell, we didn't even have a backroom at that point. If United threw Ten Hag into their team last season, he just would have been the target of all the frustration and vitriol from fans. Potter isn't the world's best manager but I believe under different circumstances he would have had a good/decent start to his Chelsea career. I'm still Potter-In and I'm willing to back him but I can also understand the frustrations of fans who aren't.

 
Frankie8Lampard said:
Wrong time is probably one of the biggest factors IMO. Boehly didn't do Potter any favours by dumping him into a club that already had a lot of issues with its squad without having a preseason or any transfer window. Hell, we didn't even have a backroom at that point. If United threw Ten Hag into their team last season, he just would have been the target of all the frustration and vitriol from fans. Potter isn't the world's best manager but I believe under different circumstances he would have had a good/decent start to his Chelsea career. I'm still Potter-In and I'm willing to back him but I can also understand the frustrations of fans who aren't.
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I think Ten Hag was at the beginning to be fair but without the 12m a year. If anything Ten Hag's challenges have been jsut as big as Potter's, perhaps without quite the same level of injuries.

 
WhiteWall said:
I think Ten Hag was at the beginning to be fair but without the 12m a year. If anything Ten Hag's challenges have been jsut as big as Potter's, perhaps without quite the same level of injuries.
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I thought Ten Hag had the a pre-season/summer transfer window? Or he came in at the start of the window? Can't keep up with United so have honestly forgotten 

 
The next two games for Potter are absolutely crucial. Am thinking the minimum return must be 3 points. Anything less and I will be amazed if he survives, especially as someone mentioned today that he had just had the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ from Uncle Todd. That’s the kiss of death !

 
drjonesy1994 said:
I think the answer is any manager, as long as the pay is right. 

I agree with the overall point though. It’s clear to every man and his dog spot that what’s happening at Chelsea currently is a long term project. If the board were to pull the trigger on that within 4/5/6 months then all that talk of a long term project is meaningless. 

A new manager doesn’t fix the problems that exist in this squad. We might improve in the short term but in 18 months time we’d probably be looking for a new manager again and having all this talk of “project” and “vision” once again. Potter is also managing the club through the worst injury crisis I’ve ever seen. I’m confident once key players like James, Chilwell, Kante and Fofana return that we will start to look better. 

Top 4 has gone, and I’m ok with that as long as I feel the club are working for something in the long term which at the moment I still think is the case. 

Potter isn’t blameless either, some of the decisions and performances have been awful. But on the other hand we have had some good performances as well, and coincidentally those performances came when some of our key players weren’t injured. 

I do worry that the board may make a decision if results don’t improve, and everyone will say what a failure this exercise has been. But in my opinion there’s no way to say if this has been a failure or not unless we give him a reasonable amount of time to implement his ideas, and we’ve signed players that fit that vision. 

If we’ve not improved this time next year then maybe that’s when we need to start asking more questions but for now I’m still happy to give him a bit of time. 
 
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Nice post, took the words right out of my mouth. I would add though that this constant craving for success becomes overwhelming . We have to sit back sometimes and look at the big picture. Even if ,say after a 6 months to a year, Potter has moved the team forward , sold the deadwood and brought in some young talent and  we are in a better place than we are now, THEN if results dont come, then calls for him to be sacked would be valid in my view, but not yet , give the guy a chance, Rome wasn't built in a day.  We can all see this isnt going to be turned round quickly, so suck it up and let him do his stuff, as hard as it to watch sometimes, and believe me its a tough watch . Potter wasnt brought in to be  the quick fix manager we've grown accustomed to over the last 10 years, this is a new era, with a new owner doing it his way. 

 
Paulus said:
Nice post, took the words right out of my mouth. I would add though that this constant craving for success becomes overwhelming . We have to sit back sometimes and look at the big picture. Even if ,say after a 6 months to a year, Potter has moved the team forward , sold the deadwood and brought in some young talent and  we are in a better place than we are now, THEN if results dont come, then calls for him to be sacked would be valid in my view, but not yet , give the guy a chance, Rome wasn't built in a day.  We can all see this isnt going to be turned round quickly, so suck it up and let him do his stuff, as hard as it to watch sometimes, and believe me its a tough watch . Potter wasnt brought in to be  the quick fix manager we've grown accustomed to over the last 10 years, this is a new era, with a new owner doing it his way. 
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The point his detractors have is, we expected the process to take time we just didn't think we would be this bad. We have a goal difference of +1 after 17 league games.....the worry for some is Potter will inadvertently turn us into a mid table team with a mid table mentality and playing style. Based of the evidence in front of us. 

No one can predict the future, but we can use the past and present to guide us, those that blindly believe he will magically solve all the issues present are either drinking the Boehly kool aid or slightly delusional to the fact our whole future is being entrusted to a nice gentleman who is clearly out of his depth.

 
LongtimerLurker said:
The point his detractors have is, we expected the process to take time we just didn't think we would be this bad. We have a goal difference of +1 after 17 league games.....the worry for some is Potter will inadvertently turn us into a mid table team with a mid table mentality and playing style. Based of the evidence in front of us. 

No one can predict the future, but we can use the past and present to guide us, those that blindly believe he will magically solve all the issues present are either drinking the Boehly kool aid or slightly delusional to the fact our whole future is being entrusted to a nice gentleman who is clearly out of his depth.
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Fair point, the only tangible evidence we can go on, is that experienced pundits, and there were many of them, touted him as the next England manager and felt he had the quality to move to bigger things. Is that enough to believe he can get Chelsea back to winning ways ? Who knows ,but for myself ,I dont want to go back to the hire and fire culture at Chelsea. We've become a laughing stock over the past few years IMO , and I personally am prepared to take the pain ,and hope for the gain in the medium to long term . 

 
Paulus said:
Fair point, the only tangible evidence we can go on, is that experienced pundits, and there were many of them, touted him as the next England manager and felt he had the quality to move to bigger things. Is that enough to believe he can get Chelsea back to winning ways ? Who knows ,but for myself ,I dont want to go back to the hire and fire culture at Chelsea. We've become a laughing stock over the past few years IMO , and I personally am prepared to take the pain ,and hope for the gain in the medium to long term . 
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I'm sure the people laughing would do a lot for a champions league win, a Europa league win and constant top 4 finishes in the last 5 years. 

 
bisright1 said:
On what flipping planet is Eddie Howe coming here 🤣 season starts for Potter on Thursday. Let's see how he does til end of March where every game is winnable - even with this team of wet blankets. 

Hopefully we've managed to build some confidence heading into the summer and can ship out and ship in what's necessary.
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If we lose to Fulham I really hope Bohley will pull the trigger 

 
Paulus said:
Fair point, the only tangible evidence we can go on, is that experienced pundits, and there were many of them, touted him as the next England manager and felt he had the quality to move to bigger things. Is that enough to believe he can get Chelsea back to winning ways ? Who knows ,but for myself ,I dont want to go back to the hire and fire culture at Chelsea. We've become a laughing stock over the past few years IMO , and I personally am prepared to take the pain ,and hope for the gain in the medium to long term . 
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Can't help being reminded of this.

Just about every English manager with some decent results have been touted for Englands manager over the years.

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