Graham Potter hints at what formation Chelsea could use vs Borussia Dortmund. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Speaking on True Geordie Podcast (h/t Metro), former England and Newcastle United midfielder Kieron Dyer believes that Chelsea players do not rate Graham Potter and preferred Thomas Tuchel as their manager.
Dyer spoke to some of the current Chelsea players and he revealed that they thought Tuchel was on a different level in terms of management and are not convinced by Potter.
The Blues sacked the German manager on September 7, hours after the team lost their Champions League opener to Dinamo Zagreb. Potter was appointed 24 hours later from Brighton and Hove Albion.
Here’s what Dyer said regarding this issue (h/t Metro):
“I’ve spoken to people who have had Tuchel as a coach and they’ve had Potter as a coach… obviously I’m not going to name names.“
“I also know people who have had Tuchel and then they’ve had other top, top coaches and they go, “Trust me, Tuchel is f***ing incredible.” They just said Tuchel was on a different planet. And my thing with Potter is, I think Chelsea having problems is because he’s always changing the team, it’s like he’s trying to keep all these superstars happy. It’s impossible to name the XI.”
Given Chelsea are the only club to have been managed by both Tuchel and Potter, it is clear that Dyer is referring to some of the players in the current Blues side – as the English tactician is yet to have a single transfer window at the club.
It is no secret that Chelsea did extremely well under Tuchel. They won the Champions League months after he took charge of the team. In the following season (2021/22), they lifted the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup, along with a top-four finish, narrowly going out to eventual European champions in the Champions League quarter-finals and only losing the two domestic cup finals on penalties.
Granted that the start of the season was slow. But if we look back at the summer transfer window, Tuchel had an extra workload as he had to support the new owners with the transfers as the club did not have a sporting director and prepare his team for the season ahead.
Co-owner Todd Boehly had to work as an interim sporting director. He obviously does not have experience in football transfers.
And then a week after the transfer window closed, he was relieved of his duties. So, he basically did not have time to work with the newly-assembled players in the squad. The start under Potter was good, but it went downhill in the last few games before the World Cup break.
That is in the past now. As much as players or fans love Tuchel (and we genuinely do that), it is time to back Potter now and hope he turns this horror form around when the team resumes its league campaign on December 27th at home against Bournemouth.
The Englishman is a young manager who did not have the pre-season with the squad to completely make them understand what his playing system is all about. The mid-season break, although not with the full squad, could help him make his points across in a better way.
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