Why are Chelsea & Graham Potter Struggling?

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Chelsea started the season rather slowly by their standards which was capped off by a surprise loss in the Champions League to Dinamo Zagreb. To many people's shock, this would be the end of Tuchel's reign as Chelsea manager. The loss to Zagreb and the slow start to the season certainly did not warrant a sack from new owner Todd Boehely. They had spent big in the summer transfer window, thus it was inevitable that new players would need some time to integrate with the squad and manager's tactics. However, Tuchel was not afforded much time at all and with his success and calibre at Chelsea, a sacking was certainly the last thing on many fans' minds.

Graham Potter had made a good start with Brighton with an opening day win at Old Trafford and many had touted him to become a great manager in the future as well. Thus, with the hype around Potter, Boehely decided to appoint him as the new Chelsea manager. Many would assume that Potter's qualities shown at Brighton would shine through at Chelsea. However, people failed to realise he inherited a new squad with signings that he had not made. Hence patience was certainly with him. They performed relatively well in their Champions League group-stage matches but it was domestically where they struggled.

The squad had poor depth and was struggling with injuries to key players such as Reece James and summer signing Fofana. Most players were out of form for quite and had struggled to create chances and score goals. Mason Mount, Havertz, and Aubameyang are not reliable goal scorers and with hardly any creative players behind them, it was hard to see Chelsea as an attacking threat in most matches. 

In the January transfer market, Chelsea recruited heavily - mainly attackers such as Felix, Mudryk, Madueke, Davide Fofana and 100M midfielder and World Cup Golden Boy, Enzo Fernandez. More additions to an already big squad meant more time needed for them to work together and adapt to their new environment, however, these were all quality players with great attacking potential. Although, their form hasn't changed even in the slightest post-World Cup which has concerned Chelsea fans about the reliability of Potter as their manager. Of course, looking at their form 2 wins in their last 15 matches and league position (10th) is a sackable offence for any top club - even more so than Tuchel's situation from which he was sacked. However, looking at the wider context around Potter at Chelsea it was always going to be a difficult job with a new environment and expectations compared to the ones at Brighton.

Potter has had to gel together a new team with very little chemistry and no proper pre-season with each other. This is a difficult task for many people hence it could be wise to give him until the start of next season to give a proper judgement. With a pre-season and enough time given to this large squad to adapt to Potter and vice versa Chelsea can be challenging higher up for sure. Potter's style of play is not the issue, and Felix's addition has certainly added more creativity but the lack of an out-and-out striker has certainly cost Chelsea many points this season. While his style of play isn't too bad his in-game management is a weak point with a choice of substitutions or their timings being off most times has also cost them dearly - notably Cucurella at West Ham should have been subbed off earlier for Chilwell. Since November Chelsea as a club has only scored 6 goals whereas Marcus Rashford of Man Utd has 20 goals alone.

Hence, with the recruitment of a reliable goal-scorer and pre-season with Potter I can expect them to have a bounce back during the next season. But after losing to Dortmund in the first leg of the Champions League RO16 and bottom-of-the-league Southampton, the pressure is certainly on Potter from the fans and a sacking seems days/weeks away.