“A real coach” – Star defender remains patient despite being snubbed in Potter’s first game

Kalidou Koulibaly is patient despite not starting in Graham Potter’s first game in charge at Chelsea

Speaking to Le Quotidien (h/t Metro), Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly is patient despite being benched in the first game of Graham Potter as the new manager of the club.

Potter was appointed a day after the sacking of Thomas Tuchel on September 7. From then till the start of the international break this week, the Blues played only one competitive game and had two postponed due to the death of the Queen in the United Kingdom.

For that reason, the new manager has only taken charge of one game despite being at the club for more than two weeks now. He did not start Koulibaly in his first game against RB Salzburg in the Champions League. Instead, the former Swansea City boss went with club captain Cesar Azpilicueta and Marc Cucurella partnering Thiago Silva in the back three.

Here’s what Koulibaly had to say regarding this (h/t Metro):

“The new coach came with some good ideas. He’s a real coach. He did some good things with Brighton. Now he is a Chelsea manager. He has guidelines, expectations. It’s up to me to be patient, it’s up to me to show that I deserve to play, to show in training that the coach can trust me.

Compared to this, there will be no problem. We are also in the first weeks, it is normal for the coach to rely on players who are used to the emblem of Chelsea and who have been there for a very long time.”

The Senegal international was signed by Chelsea from Napoli when Tuchel was in charge. The 31-year-old had a sticky start to the season, with a red card against Leeds United epitomising the fact that he is still settling down in the new league.

In terms of what Potter did, he went with the options he was more comfortable with. He has worked with Cucurella at Brighton and Hove Albion while Azpilicueta is the club captain who can steady the ship at the back and help the team when the confidence is down.

Koulibaly is an excellent centre-back, probably one of the best of this generation. He will get his chance in due course of time. His response to the manager’s benching was of a player who knows he is going to games where he can show how good he is for the team.

More Chelsea News:

• Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel stuck in England post-Brexit visa limbo
• Brad Friedel believes Christian Pulisic can benefit from Thomas Tuchel leaving Chelsea
• Tite backs Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva to be a good coach

Chelsea play Crystal Palace next after the international break. The 31-year-old would be looking to get back into the team for that game and then string a few good performances in.