At the start of the season Potter was at Brighton, he had never been to a Champions League game or a cup final. 20 weeks later he has moved to TWO times CL winners AND been the best funded manager in football history. He must feel like he's in dreamland. I just hope he can manage the pressure now with all the reasons blamed for our poor performances slowly vanishing.

One thing i think he should consider is learning to speak Spanish in his spare time, it will do him good in the future.

15 minutes ago, coco said:

At the start of the season Potter was at Brighton, he had never been to a Champions League game or a cup final. 20 weeks later he has moved to TWO times CL winners AND been the best funded manager in football history. He must feel like he's in dreamland. I just hope he can manage the pressure now with all the reasons blamed for our poor performances slowly vanishing.

One thing i think he should consider is learning to speak Spanish in his spare time, it will do him good in the future.

In many ways you can draw some comparisons with Ranieri when he suddenly received the massive investment from Roman. Admittedly Ranieri had been a the club for a season or 2 before the massive changes, but he must have felt similar pressure after the investment. It was all a bit chaotic and the new signings were a mixture of brilliance and duds. Some outstanding performances at times but ultimately Ranieri was shown the door after the Champs League semi failure. Difference this time is that Potter was hired by the new owners, but I won't be surprised if they ultimately decide to bring in somebody else in the next year, if the progress isn't to their satisfaction. I think Potter will be safe this season even if we crash out of Champs League and don't make top 4 (I suspect that is a stretch even with the new signings anyway). But the expectations will only increase next season no matter what is achieved this season.

1 hour ago, coco said:

At the start of the season Potter was at Brighton, he had never been to a Champions League game or a cup final. 20 weeks later he has moved to TWO times CL winners AND been the best funded manager in football history. He must feel like he's in dreamland. I just hope he can manage the pressure now with all the reasons blamed for our poor performances slowly vanishing.

One thing i think he should consider is learning to speak Spanish in his spare time, it will do him good in the future.

He knows Spanish 

 

42 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He knows Spanish 

 

What about Billy Reid. 

 

 

Think with Ziyech still here we can only register 2 of the 8?

44 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

 

 

Didn't sky set out that because most our signings were born after 1 Jan 2001 that they are eligible for List B and therefore can play in the CL without needing to be registered on List A (which has the limit), and only Felix was the one that needed to be registered?.

Although reading again this may not actually be correct in which case I guess the team have some awkward decisions to make. 

Edited February 1, 20233 yr by ssur

2 hours ago, Robertofthegiz said:

What about Billy Reid. 

Yeah, he knows Billy Reid really well, brought him with him. 

With all these new players that we've signed, surely we can't get any worse? No reason whatsoever we can't start picking up wins and go on a good bit of form. 

Usually I would be cautious signing so many players in one window, giving them time to gel, adapt, etc. But our form and style of play has been a trainwreck, nothing has been disrupted, so it can't get any worse than the past few months surely. 

With the amount of money spent, it's only natural for the owner and fans expect immediate improvement on the field. I don't think this is no longer a 5 year 'build like Brighton' type of project, results must improve to mitigate the risks of spending so much so quickly. Potter's job will get a lot harder in a way with all the players at his disposal, and I don't think asking for patience will get much sympathy. We will hear the usual names of Jose, Conte being talked up as the next manager in the media if results don't improve quickly.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/01/chelsea-put-faith-in-potter-and-young-signings-after-500m-spending-spree

Given the signings we’ve made, what are you expecting from Potter for the rest of the season?

I think top 4 is gone now but I’m expecting a much improved second half of the season. No excuses. We might be able to have a close run at top 4 but I think the gap is too much. 5-6th. 

1 hour ago, icecoolguy22 said:

With the amount of money spent, it's only natural for the owner and fans expect immediate improvement on the field. I don't think this is no longer a 5 year 'build like Brighton' type of project, results must improve to mitigate the risks of spending so much so quickly. Potter's job will get a lot harder in a way with all the players at his disposal, and I don't think asking for patience will get much sympathy. We will hear the usual names of Jose, Conte being talked up as the next manager in the media if results don't improve quickly.

Poch I suspect, depending on the timing if we continue to decline.

In fairness to Potter, he has had a pretty unique set of circumstances to deal with. Even now where most would think this spending spree would be a managers heaven, how this guy develops a new model with a group of developing youngsters, new senior elite pros, a stock of dependable players and a smaller group of toxic players wanting out dragging the atmosphere down. 30 odd squad players would be taxing for the most experienced managers.  This will continue to be a challenging process for Potter.

I hope he is up to it, although I confess to having some doubts at the moment.

Personally I think GP's biggest problem in the dressing room could be not with the new, younger players brought in, (yes, some of them at great cost), but the older (newer?) big name players in the squad. Aubameyang and Koulibaly should not be kicking a ball in a Blue shirt anytime soon. Ziyech wants out, and I can understand why. Pulisic, must be thinking WTF just happened, what is a Geordie and how do I get to Newcastle?

Of course I think it was great business off-loading Jorginho but maybe a few more should have gone to make Potter's 'project' easier. Who knows? Time will tell.

Koulibaly is a headscratcher. No idea who takes him with his wages. 

We should get rid of Pulisic and Ziyech no problem

Aubameyang we will simply terminate his contract if there isn't a buyer (hopefully Barca come back for him). 

CHO for the sake of his career needs to accept a lower wage and leave elsewhere. 

Ruben looks happy as a bit part player with those kind of wages. 

Lukaku. God knows. 

 

Edited February 1, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

46 minutes ago, just said:

Personally I think GP's biggest problem in the dressing room could be not with the new, younger players brought in, (yes, some of them at great cost), but the older (newer?) big name players in the squad. Aubameyang and Koulibaly should not be kicking a ball in a Blue shirt anytime soon. Ziyech wants out, and I can understand why. Pulisic, must be thinking WTF just happened, what is a Geordie and how do I get to Newcastle?

Of course I think it was great business off-loading Jorginho but maybe a few more should have gone to make Potter's 'project' easier. Who knows? Time will tell.

Agreed. The quicker we ship out some of these players the better it will be for the dressing room.

42 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Koulibaly is a headscratcher. No idea who takes him with his wages. 

We should get rid of Pulisic and Ziyech no problem

Aubameyang we will simply terminate his contract if there isn't a buyer (hopefully Barca come back for him). 

CHO for the sake of his career needs to accept a lower wage and leave elsewhere. 

Ruben looks happy as a bit part player with those kind of wages. 

Lukaku. God knows. 

 

Unfortunately we will probably have to loan koulibaly out.

No excuses now.

The target for this season.

1. Respectable champions league run

2. From now until the end of the season be at least 4th in the league form table

If both those targets are not hit, then we should sack him in the summer and get a coach with pedigree that can elevate a supreme squad of players.

10 hours ago, Robertofthegiz said:

What about Billy Reid. 

He’s still learning English.

The choice of who will get into our cl squad between Enzo, Badi, Felix, Madueke and murdyk will be interesting. I think it is safe to say that Madueke is out and Enzo is in.  

The question will be who will you leave out between Badi, Felix and murdyk. 

5 hours ago, KonaKai Blue said:

No excuses now.

The target for this season.

1. Respectable champions league run

2. From now until the end of the season be at least 4th in the league form table

If both those targets are not hit, then we should sack him in the summer and get a coach with pedigree that can elevate a supreme squad of players.

We have just signed 500 new players in January, it will take time for everything to gel. 

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

The choice of who will get into our cl squad between Enzo, Badi, Felix, Madueke and murdyk will be interesting. I think it is safe to say that Madueke is out and Enzo is in.  

The question will be who will you leave out between Badi, Felix and murdyk. 

Maybe they will all be in and Koulibaly will be out ?

20 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Maybe they will all be in and Koulibaly will be out ?

I think you can only add max 3 new player to the list

 

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

The choice of who will get into our cl squad between Enzo, Badi, Felix, Madueke and murdyk will be interesting. I think it is safe to say that Madueke is out and Enzo is in.  

The question will be who will you leave out between Badi, Felix and murdyk. 

Badiashile out. KK is very good for CL.

Sky did a video about how Chelsea fit them in. I think it’s fine as Mudryk, Badishille and Madueke are under 22.