Once Dortmund knock us out of the champions league (probably) there will be nothing left to play for this season. At that point there probably won't be much point removing Potter (until the end of the season).

10 minutes ago, Qaz said:

Once Dortmund knock us out of the champions league (probably) there will be nothing left to play for this season. At that point there probably won't be much point removing Potter (until the end of the season).

Let's see how deep the rabbit hole goes...

Edited February 27, 20233 yr by axman2526

"pottersexual", "shatire" give me a good chuckle this morning after losing a lot of sleep here in Australia hoping against hope that this time it would be different and we would score a goal. "this time its different" are famous words in the fund mangers diary, because it so rarely is.

Did we see signs of progress? I don't think so, except that Fofana looks the real deal. Enzo is now being made to look slow and inaccurate. Why was Mount marking Dier at the corner for the second goal? Really that shouldn't happen. Far from too much attention to detail there isn't enough.

And it's true there is no onfield boss.  

The trouble is: (1) Potter has no track record at this level, (2) results are terrible in every way. Unacceptable. (3) the team is changed massively every game but the result is the same (4) there is no visible progress and (5) its really hard to work out what the structure and plan is, that is seeing the teamwork rather than the individuals. 

The players did try and their frustration is obvious, but it isn't focussed into performance. Dont get angry get even.

Yet the Board still backs hime, but now they are forced to issue messages to the likes of Romano that they still back him. this is unsustainable. Personally I don't even think that beating Dortmund will be enough but maybe I'm wrong.
 

If we aren’t sacking him now then there is no point in sacking him until next season

 

this season is a waste now and we have to give him the summer to have the pre season that he doesn’t have, at the end of the day we might have to wait until chirstmas before a new manager 

38 minutes ago, cfcforeverfan said:

If we aren’t sacking him now then there is no point in sacking him until next season

 

this season is a waste now and we have to give him the summer to have the pre season that he doesn’t have, at the end of the day we might have to wait until chirstmas before a new manager 

Not a waste. Champions league is very very winnable this year with the squad we have.

Also, the longer this goes on the morale of the players and fans will continue to deteriorate, players will play worse and might want to leave the club, other players that we want to sign will look at us and how shambolic we are and won't want to join etc

You can't let the rot continue to grow.

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

"pottersexual", "shatire" give me a good chuckle this morning after losing a lot of sleep here in Australia hoping against hope that this time it would be different and we would score a goal. "this time its different" are famous words in the fund mangers diary, because it so rarely is.

Did we see signs of progress? I don't think so, except that Fofana looks the real deal. Enzo is now being made to look slow and inaccurate. Why was Mount marking Dier at the corner for the second goal? Really that shouldn't happen. Far from too much attention to detail there isn't enough.

And it's true there is no onfield boss.  

The trouble is: (1) Potter has no track record at this level, (2) results are terrible in every way. Unacceptable. (3) the team is changed massively every game but the result is the same (4) there is no visible progress and (5) its really hard to work out what the structure and plan is, that is seeing the teamwork rather than the individuals. 

The players did try and their frustration is obvious, but it isn't focussed into performance. Dont get angry get even.

Yet the Board still backs hime, but now they are forced to issue messages to the likes of Romano that they still back him. this is unsustainable. Personally I don't even think that beating Dortmund will be enough but maybe I'm wrong.
 

At the moment it is hard to imagine us getting past Dortmund as that will require us scoring at least once just to take it to penalties. But taken on its own, even if we get past Dortmund we just make it to the QF of Champions League and the games won't get any easier. Unless we found a way to win the whole thing then we won't be in Champions league next season and that will give the owners a financial hit that they were probably hoping to avoid. 

I suspect that there are some clauses in Potter's contract that make it easier for the board to let him go in the summer. Right now they are claiming they back him, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are already lining up somebody else to take over at the end of the season. In the event that our form continues to dip then maybe they will even go with an interim to see out the season, but at the moment it doesn't seem like they are planning to go that path.

6 minutes ago, I am a CPA said:

Not a waste. Champions league is very very winnable this year with the squad we have.

Also, the longer this goes on the morale of the players and fans will continue to deteriorate, players will play worse and might want to leave the club, other players that we want to sign will look at us and how shambolic we are and won't want to join etc

You can't let the rot continue to grow.

Players that signed 8 year contract won’t go anywhere

8 minutes ago, I am a CPA said:

Not a waste. Champions league is very very winnable this year with the squad we have.

Also, the longer this goes on the morale of the players and fans will continue to deteriorate, players will play worse and might want to leave the club, other players that we want to sign will look at us and how shambolic we are and won't want to join etc

You can't let the rot continue to grow.

In theory Champions League is a knockout tournament and anything can happen. But what if the owners already have somebody lined up in the summer and they are not available now? 

 

15 minutes ago, forbzy said:

In theory Champions League is a knockout tournament and anything can happen. But what if the owners already have somebody lined up in the summer and they are not available now? 

Then they wouldn't be feeding Fabrizio Romano and Matt Law with pathetic PR lines to spout out to the public.

16 minutes ago, forbzy said:

In theory Champions League is a knockout tournament and anything can happen. But what if the owners already have somebody lined up in the summer and they are not available now? 

That's honestly what I'm beginning to believe. I highly doubt they are just sitting pretty while they watch our performances deteriorate. If there's anything we have learnt about how this consortium acts is that they like to do things quick;y. I wouldn't be surprised if Potter is dismissed the moment the season ends and someone is appointed the same day.

1 hour ago, I am a CPA said:

 

Then they wouldn't be feeding Fabrizio Romano and Matt Law with pathetic PR lines to spout out to the public.

I actually think the "but things could change" line is pretty ominous. 

Screams the Roman/AVB situation, ala owner wants to keep him but his hand will get forced.

1 hour ago, forbzy said:

In theory Champions League is a knockout tournament and anything can happen. But what if the owners already have somebody lined up in the summer and they are not available now? 

Easy: Interim coach. Someone with experience in the PL.

What pisses me off more than anything else at the moment is how Potter managed to turn Noni, Enzo, Mudryk and Felix into significantly WORSE players then when they initially arrived. Just because Boehly doesn't want to find us an interim manager we ruin our expensive winter signings. Players look exciting and threatening and as soon as they are "coached" by Potter for a few weeks they turn into sh*t it seems.

Aubameyang was good for Barca last season and has gone to total sh*t despite scoring in the first few games. Cucurella looks like trash compared to Chilwell despite being Brighton's player of the year somehow (under the same manager as well, not sure how that is even possible). Koulibaly looked terrible for much of the season, only recovering his from in the last few games in which he has been decent/good to be fair.

James and Mount look way worse than under Tuchel.

Sterling's great form at the beginning of the season was ruined by moving him to wing back.

Havertz has shown no improvement at all and has become even worse although that can be considered quite an accomplishment considering he was never even good to begin with.

Kovacic is either mediocre or injured.

DD Fofana is decent and looks much better than Havertz at 9 and is rewarded by being subbed off at HT and then left out of the squad for the next game. Must really help your confidence as a young striker to be "managed" like that.

The list is endless ... Potter turns most of our players into crap. Only exception being Zakaria I guess ... Thiago Silva is too good to be ruined by this clown as well.

9 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

I'm so tired of this Arsenal narrative. I don't know who started pushing this agenda. But someone needs to tell Boehly and Potter that firstly we are not Arsenal. Secondly no two clubs or situations in football are ever the exact same. Finally just because Arteta's appointment is working for Arsenal now doesn't mean Potter's will work for us.

Imagine for a second using this excuse in any other profession. So I'm not performing in my job right now, but look at (insert random name) he struggled too for a couple of years. But, now finally he's succeeding 3 years later after his appointment. So you can apply this to me, don't worry about my performance right now, just judge me 3 years later. After I've made a fortune despite failing to do my actual job, thereby essentially getting paid for free.

He's talking about getting the players to watch the Arsenal all or nothing, like is this real life?! I can't believe how delusional these blokes running this club are.

Potter wasn't signed because of his track record for winning games, it was on the basis he could work well with the board. Could "develop" young players and is emotionally intelligent. For an elite club to appoint any coach, one of the fundamentals has to be that they know how to win and will win. The fact this wasn't a prerequisite for this job is already a big red flag. Because not only does that mean its allowed Boehly and Co to hire clearly the wrong candidate, but it also gives them the justification to stick by him.

Bang on.

The Arteta narrative is almost the complete opposite of what we're doing here.

Arteta had a style and pattern that he stuck to throughout, but he had a team full of sh*t players, which they have slowly invested in.

We have no pattern whatsoever and, on paper, one of the best and certainly biggest squad of players in any of the top leagues in Europe.  Even the squad that fans generally thought were sh*t still won multiple cups and qualified for Europe year on year.

5 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

What pisses me off more than anything else at the moment is how Potter managed to turn Noni, Enzo, Mudryk and Felix into significantly WORSE players then when they initially arrived. Just because Boehly doesn't want to find us an interim manager we ruin our expensive winter signings. Players look exciting and threatening and as soon as they are "coached" by Potter for a few weeks they turn into sh*t it seems.

Aubameyang was good for Barca last season and has gone to total sh*t despite scoring in the first few games. Cucurella looks like trash compared to Chilwell despite being Brighton's player of the year somehow (under the same manager as well, not sure how that is even possible). Koulibaly looked terrible for much of the season, only recovering his from in the last few games in which he has been decent/good to be fair.

James and Mount look way worse than under Tuchel.

Sterling's great form at the beginning of the season was ruined by moving him to wing back.

Havertz has shown no improvement at all and has become even worse although that can be considered quite an accomplishment considering he was never even good to begin with.

Kovacic is either mediocre or injured.

DD Fofana is decent and looks much better than Havertz at 9 and is rewarded by being subbed off at HT and then left out of the squad for the next game. Must really help your confidence as a young striker to be "managed" like that.

The list is endless ... Potter turns most of our players into crap. Only exception being Zakaria I guess ... Thiago Silva is too good to be ruined by this clown as well.

 Noni and Mudryk are both young and untested in this league. Mudryk looked good against Liverpool when they were leaving acres of space for him to run into behind - but is easily stopped when teams sit deep. Noni has looked a headless chicken every time he played. Both are Young and raw - with potential.

Enzo is playing in one of the most important positions, coming into a league that is faster paced than where he has come from. Going to take time to settle.

Felix has had flashes and was our best player for first few games - but only so much a single player can do.

I don’t buy into the “Potter is coaching them to be worse players” nonsense -  Of course reality is never quite as binary as that twaddle.

Perfect storm - New players acclimatising to a new team. Old players still waiting to leave. Team going through an awful run of form. Potter not doing enough to galvanise the team and stop the rot. ALL of these things are having an impact. It is not a single thing like “potter is making them bad”. Football (and life) doesn’t work like that.

Sry, another thing that gets to me is the number 9 yap.

Yes we lack someone up front with that tunnel vision of the ball belongs inside the net. Tap in, blast it in, head it in and not care if the defender or goalkeeper is there or not, hell they could be on fire and he wouldn't be able to see it apart from his task of ball in net. 

The thing is really good Managers can play without a recognised number 9 (ahem Man City) but that requires a tactic-ly knowledgeable manager which potter isn’t unfortunately.

Potter is a good manager but he's not a great one yet, and I'm sorry but he's no where near the quality of a Chelsea manager.

 

Apart from TT atm, and I know ppl keep saying he's gone move on, who else is there? 

If Mourinho can come back then the TT option is not as far fetched as some say it is. I'd respect the owners more if they came out and owned their mistake, came out and apologised to someone that had their heart at Chels.

#getTTback #TBbegTTback 

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Oh I don't know, he has his future secure, and is the most loved Chelsea player, he could get away with it imo.

Even if he did not, and we reacted, every club in the world would want him. 

The "and stuff" at the end of his answer set my alarm off...I don't think he's unprofessional enough to say potters sh*t but I get a feeling he wants to.

9 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

 Noni and Mudryk are both young and untested in this league. Mudryk looked good against Liverpool when they were leaving acres of space for him to run into behind - but is easily stopped when teams sit deep. Noni has looked a headless chicken every time he played. Both are Young and raw - with potential.

Enzo is playing in one of the most important positions, coming into a league that is faster paced than where he has come from. Going to take time to settle.

Felix has had flashes and was our best player for first few games - but only so much a single player can do.

I don’t buy into the “Potter is coaching them to be worse players” nonsense -  Of course reality is never quite as binary as that twaddle.

Perfect storm - New players acclimatising to a new team. Old players still waiting to leave. Team going through an awful run of form. Potter not doing enough to galvanise the team and stop the rot. ALL of these things are having an impact. It is not a single thing like “potter is making them bad”. Football (and life) doesn’t work like that.

So almost every player has gotten worse since arriving here but it's not Potter's fault somehow? That seems like bs to me. Potter is clueless. You could give him peak Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappe and we still wouldn't win a game. 

Noni did fine IMO by the way. Much better than Ziyech, yet Ziyech gets to start despite not even wanting to be here. 

11 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Bang on.

The Arteta narrative is almost the complete opposite of what we're doing here.

Arteta had a style and pattern that he stuck to throughout, but he had a team full of sh*t players, which they have slowly invested in.

We have no pattern whatsoever and, on paper, one of the best and certainly biggest squad of players in any of the top leagues in Europe.  Even the squad that fans generally thought were sh*t still won multiple cups and qualified for Europe year on year.

I really don't get where this myth comes from. The first year of his tenure they were playing like Stoke and he was by inlarge ignoring all the youngsters bar Saka.

36 minutes ago, Argo said:

I really don't get where this myth comes from. The first year of his tenure they were playing like Stoke and he was by inlarge ignoring all the youngsters bar Saka.

Don’t let reality spoil an agenda driven narrative …..

18 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Don’t let reality spoil an agenda driven narrative …..

Maybe because your narrative is wrong. Martinelli, Saka, Smith Rowe, Nelson all got plenty chances with him early on.

But hey, at least we can watch All Or Nothing and see how a proper manager conducts himself, thanks for the tip Potter! 🤯

7 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Maybe because your narrative is wrong. Martinelli, Saka, Smith Rowe, Nelson all got plenty chances with him early on.

Just by looking at transfermarkt

Punted out Guendouzi within months in favour of keeping Elneny.

Martenelli barely got league minutes in 2020, admittedly he was injured in a part of it longer than I thought.

Smith Rowe was loaned out pretty much as soon as Arteta arrived and didn't get a single minute of PL action under Arteta for a year, and even then that was because Willian and Auba breaking Covid protocol forced his hand.

Arguably the best young defender in the world was loaned out in favour of keeping the likes of Rob Holding, twice.

Nelson had 70 minutes of league football in the whole of 20/21. He was playing a bit more the season before but his minutes decreased a lot under Arteta compared to Emery and Ljungberg.

He still hasn't given Balogun a chance and look how well he's doing in the French league.

How good or bad Potter is doing is totally irrelevant to the fact that Arteta playing great/progressive football with all these youth players from day one was a total urban myth. He was being compared to Pulis by some section of Arsenal fans because the football was so bad.

13 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Maybe because your narrative is wrong. Martinelli, Saka, Smith Rowe, Nelson all got plenty chances with him early on.

But hey, at least we can watch All Or Nothing and see how a proper manager conducts himself, thanks for the tip Potter! 🤯

Please tell me what part of 'my narrative' is wrong....

1) Club goes through a period of unprecedented turmoil, resulting in sanctions against us.

2) Club is sold, with all of the owners/boards senior leadership being changed - bringing with them a new outlook and philosophy.

3) Our manager at the time, TT, was overseeing some awful football and awful results. He was also increasingly combustible and irritated in the public eye with his mood and demeanor noticably souring following changes in his personal life (divorced from wife, moving away from kids, media exposure around new girlfriend)

4) There are also a number of noises that TT and the board did not see eye to eye or agree on the approach that the new owners wanted to take.

5)Given the timing of the takeover, lack of internal structure and vision - the summer transfer window was a shambolic mess. Overpaying for medicore/past it players in a bid to get new players in - players that evidently dont fit the new long term vision.

6) Post transfer window - we sack TT and hire Potter. Potter takes over and the results were lifted.

7) The season is hugely disrupted by mind blowing number of injuries. Fofana. James. Chilly. Kante. Kova. RLC. Zakaria. Sterling. Puli. Broja. All significant long term injuries.

8. The season was further disrupted by the World cup - leaving Potter with a fit first team squad of just Kepa, Bettinelli, Jorgi, Broja (who was not yet injured), Chukwuemeka, Cucurella and Chalobah to work with.

9. In the Jan transfer window we spent big on youth. Untested, unproven youth. Huge numbers of players unaccustomed to the premier league and who will take time to acclimatize and adapt.

10. Across all this we have a manager who has taken a huge step up, but who, following the initial promising results, has not been good enough. Not been decisive enough. Not been proactive enough. Not been passionate enough. 

11. All of the above, significant and unprecedented mitigating circumstances have led to our downfall. Time will tell if it gets better. Given the size of the rebuild we are going through, I think it will take time (years as opposed to weeks or months), with lots of ups and downs.

 

ALL OF THIS ABOVE... is my narrative. Please tell me which part of it is wrong.

7 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

Apparently the board are still backing him according to Fabrizio Romano. We're completely f*cked aren't we

Yep. Completely and utterly unfortunately 

Why is there a lot of talk about pre season?! Potter joined back in September, what difference is pre season going to make?