Chelsea owners communicated their faith to Graham Potter before the Newcastle game
According to the Athletic (subscription required) (h/t Express), Chelsea owners communicated their unwavering backing to manager Graham Potter shortly before the Blues’ 1-0 defeat against Newcastle United.
When Thomas Tuchel was sacked on September 7, the club went for Potter and agreed on a five-year contract. They will stick with him and his long-term project despite a stutter in proceedings very early on in his reign.
After a fairly decent start, Chelsea have not won a league game in five and have lost three games in succession, the last one coming at St. James’ Park against Newcastle.
As a result, the Blues are now eighth in the table, 16 points behind leaders and London rivals Arsenal and eight behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, another city rival.
Although defending may have been an issue in the last few games, scoring has now become a perennial problem. The Blues have scored 17 goals in 14 league games this season. Teams scoring at this rate are generally in the bottom half of the table.
Looking at the last three league games specifically, Chelsea never looked like a team that can build an attack, sustain it and create multiple chances against the opposition.
It cannot be all down to the quality of players because the Blues have some top-quality players in their squad. The manager may be partly responsible but the buck does not stop there.
When Potter came, he did not have a pre-season with this squad. Then after the September international break, Chelsea played 13 games in 43 days before the World Cup break, eight of them away from home.
So, the schedule has been gruelling for the manager to get the best out of these players without spending a lot of time with them on the training field.
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Hence, the owners would be right to back the manager and hope he and his staff come up with better results in the second half of the season.