9 hours ago, JM7 said:

I read that we haven’t won an away game since October. Is that true?

Still

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

If he's not challenging for the league next season he will be out. 

Feels like there's this assumption that we either sack Potter now or we live with finishing 6th and maybe having a cup run for the next 5 years. 

There are two alternatives. We sack him in the summer / December when we reach a point that he's clearly not cut out. Or we actually do improve 

This isn't meant to discredit your post @bisright1 cos you do make valid, balanced points. My concern is that glass half empty people like I am becoming think that half glass full guys like you appear often put 6th as the bottom line, such as if we have to live with 6th for a season or so.

We're miles from 6th, if not in points, certainly in game management and direction.

We are approaching the fag end of the season.  All of the teams we play will be fighting for something  and we have nothing to play for. I just cannot see a sustained run of results coming that helps us overtake 4 or 5 other teams all of which are competing justvas we are.

Maybe not statistically, but it feels like we need to have league winning form from this point on, yet we say this every week.

If he were a colour he’d be beige.

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

I didn't get to see the game but this is just the same old story. Ive consistently backed Potter but my patience is wearing thin, with the players we have there is zero reason for the football being sh*t, let alone not winning against a toss West Ham team. He needs to quickly improve things because this is absolutely not good enough.

Wouldn't disagree TTW but there was a definite improvement today IMO. The first 30 minutes was the best football we have played since the Tottenham and AC Milan games. Some very intricate passing that repeatedly carved Wet Spam open. Felix, Fernandez and RLC combined really well.

But we are not yet a team that is the sum of its parts. And it's reasonable to think that is primarily because of all the new players trying to be meshed together at once and our players returning from long term injuries taking time to get back up to speed. Our confidence is also shaky and the two disallowed goals, and then West Ham scoring completely against the run of play at that point, took the wind out of our sails. 

IMO we still desperately need a real centre-forward, (one who is capable of holding the ball up when needed), to be an outlet up front. 

We are a team of individuals. Sorry but Potter is nowhere near good enough.

Turgid. Sitting here mulling after the match in disbelief how sh*t our manager is and the fact he was given 5 years and sacking him will probably be us breaching FFP. 
 

What a mess 

Such slow, boring football. He went on these long goalless/winless runs at Brighton a few times. Yeah we looked good for 30 mins but we can’t sustain it and we don’t have that killer instinct, bit like our manager. 
 

Unfortunately I think we’re stuck with him. Bohley’s not sacking him any time soon. He’s been given promises about not being sacked if he doesn’t make top 4 (which clearly doesn’t bother Potter)

How did he not lose it during the presser !! Imagine Jose or tuchel they would be going epic 

1 minute ago, Andy2461 said:

How did he not lose it during the presser !! Imagine Jose or tuchel they would be going epic 

It explains perfectly how he cannot get a reaction out the players if he can’t even muster one himself. 

"It is what it is ... " 

FFS ... 🙂 

Potter has the lowest win percentage of any permanent Chelsea manager since 1996.

17 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

If he were a colour he’d be beige.

Meh-ball

I've been a big supporter of Potter since he came here but I'm starting to think he may be on borrowed time now. Since beating Villa in October we have won 4 in 18 in all comps. That is genuinely relegation form and frankly not good enough for a club of our stature. 

I kept hoping things would change at certain points. I hoped once we got the world cup out of the way we'd start to look better, I hoped that once the injured players began to return we would look better. I hoped that with the investment in January we'd start to look better. All 3 of those things have happened now and we're still not doing enough to win games. 

Don't get me wrong, I was actually encouraged by our performance in the first half hour today and I think we have some real gems on our hands in Enzo and Felix, but once West Ham scored we were flat again and never really did enough to win the game. Yes - we should've had a blatant pen at the end but on the balance of play we wouldn't have deserved it.

As good as the investment was in January, this might prove to be Potters downfall. Given the level of investment and the calibre of players we have signed, I don't think it's unreasonable for either the owners or the fans to see consistent improvement on the pitch. If he didn't get that level of backing in January then maybe people would've been more keen for him to see the season out and then go from there. 

Nothing against him, he really seems like a decent bloke but I'm starting to think more and more that this is too big of a job for him at this stage of his career.

20 minutes ago, just said:

Wouldn't disagree TTW but there was a definite improvement today IMO. The first 30 minutes was the best football we have played since the Tottenham and AC Milan games. Some very intricate passing that repeatedly carved Wet Spam open. Felix, Fernandez and RLC combined really well.

But we are not yet a team that is the sum of its parts. And it's reasonable to think that is primarily because of all the new players trying to be meshed together at once and our players returning from long term injuries taking time to get back up to speed. Our confidence is also shaky and the two disallowed goals, and then West Ham scoring completely against the run of play at that point, took the wind out of our sails. 

IMO we still desperately need a real centre-forward, (one who is capable of holding the ball up when needed), to be an outlet up front. 

I agree with your point here but I think it was @TimesUpPotter that stated that Felix and Enzo showing their evident class isn’t  a turning point. If you took these outliers out we looked just as toothless as normal. This is also a valid point I think.

I used to accuse Tammy of not being able to see the runs but Christ Havertz seems to have a pathological fear of the near post, except for one header.

When asked about the handball:

"It's the little things that need to go in your favour and obviously they're not so that's life so nothing to complain about there"

I'm not upset that we didn't win but time after time again he's showing that he has a weak character. I saw at least 4 of our players all going mad about that, Enzo for example kept pointing out to the ref that it was a handball... And here we have his own manager not caring about it at all.

I understand that nothing can be done about it and that all of it is already in the past. But the way he's just never going to be bothered about anything at all, that alone is making me dislike Potter, cmon start smelling the coffee ffs you're managing one of the most expensive squads out there, I honestly think that nobody is going to listen to what he has to say if he keeps thinking that he can just keep saying, let's move on let's move on let's keep working...

Supposedly our recruitment has shifted to a metrics and data based approach but what sort of metrics were used to recruit Potter ?

 

20 minutes ago, Andy2461 said:

How did he not lose it during the presser !! Imagine Jose or tuchel they would be going epic 

85 mins, pushing to win the game, and Silva/ Baddy still knocking it around between themselves, before going back to Kepa....

Mount, having a laugh and a joke after the game....

Potter dismissing the penalty -"oh its one of those things"...

 

All points to a team/direction of no urgency or real genuine grit and desire to win. Mount should be relegated to the development squad for his post game reactions. Potter need to get the bit between his teeth and wake the f**k up. This is Chelsea. Fluffy Human Resources/Corporate services sh*te doesnt cut it at the top.

Rocket up arses is needed. Boehly to Potter, Potter to Players. Potter and players to refs.

 

2 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

When asked about the handball:

"It's the little things that need to go in your favour and obviously they're not so that's life so nothing to complain about there"

I'm not upset that we didn't win but time after time again he's showing that he has a weak character. I saw at least 4 of our players all going mad about that, Enzo for example kept pointing out to the ref that it was a handball... And here we have his own manager not caring about it at all.

I understand that nothing can be done about it and that all of it is already in the past. But the way he's just never going to be bothered about anything at all, that alone is making me dislike Potter, cmon start smelling the coffee ffs you're managing one of the most expensive squads out there, I honestly think that nobody is going to listen to what he has to say if he keeps thinking that he can just keep saying, let's move on let's move on let's keep working...

Why would he care about anything ? He already has a 5 year, 12 million a year contract based on managing the barely 1 goal a game Brighton team. He doesn't look hungry to win and looks disinterested and aloof.

Get him gone before Dortmund. One competition left to play, the one competition we can still retain a high standard and regain a modicum of pride in our season in, let's not go out of it playing like this. We're just out of a pretty favourable run of fixtures, just a couple of more wins and we could have had some hope at being in next season's CL, but he couldn't even manage that. We're no-hopers, in bloody early February. If he couldn't even keep us in contention for fourth (at best) past this point, what gives people confidence that he'll be able to get the job done next year? Let alone being able to move us towards actually competing for trophies.

 

 

I wonder who it was that suggested Boyehly to give him 5 year contract. It must be one of our worst haters.

It is so frustrating to watch these two meter passes sideways game after game. We now have some very fast players there (and already had in Werner and Havertz). Why can't we utilize them?

We would have won more matches if we were managerless.. with the quality at his disposal he should be doing much better.. 

Mates,

 

Why do I (and you) keep watching this sh*t?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

w

w

7 minutes ago, drjonesy1994 said:

I've been a big supporter of Potter since he came here but I'm starting to think he may be on borrowed time now. Since beating Villa in October we have won 4 in 18 in all comps. That is genuinely relegation form and frankly not good enough for a club of our stature. 

I kept hoping things would change at certain points. I hoped once we got the world cup out of the way we'd start to look better, I hoped that once the injured players began to return we would look better. I hoped that with the investment in January we'd start to look better. All 3 of those things have happened now and we're still not doing enough to win games. 

Don't get me wrong, I was actually encouraged by our performance in the first half hour today and I think we have some real gems on our hands in Enzo and Felix, but once West Ham scored we were flat again and never really did enough to win the game. Yes - we should've had a blatant pen at the end but on the balance of play we wouldn't have deserved it.

As good as the investment was in January, this might prove to be Potters downfall. Given the level of investment and the calibre of players we have signed, I don't think it's unreasonable for either the owners or the fans to see consistent improvement on the pitch. If he didn't get that level of backing in January then maybe people would've been more keen for him to see the season out and then go from there. 

Nothing against him, he really seems like a decent bloke but I'm starting to think more and more that this is too big of a job for him at this stage of his career.

Good post.

I think Boehly and Potter are on the same page, and right now that is a very different page to the fans.  This is in my view all tied in with the new owner's desire to turn Chelsea into a corporate structure, with corporate characteristics and corporate types of employees. As such, Potter's "Emotional Intelligence" is highly desirable as it is the current trendy concept in HR in Corporations. Everything we see in Potter's interviews is linked to this EI thing. EI is all about being in control of your emotions, and displays of anger, emotion etc, are counter to "good practices" in the discipline. Hence we see all these vanilla press interviews. Potter and the owners are probably prepared to take the slow road to reach their objectives, and short-term lack of success is probably not a factor, as long as they can see progress (defined in their own terms, not in the traditional football metrics) towards their long-term success. As such, I don't think fan protests, banners or boos, assuming they come at some point, will make any difference to Boehly's thinking or Potter's job security. He'll be here for the long term.