It has been an easy couple of weeks to take aim at Todd Boehly. The new co-owner at Chelsea has sacked a manager that never lost back-to-back league matches just to see his new appointment fall to three defeats in a row.
It's easy to say that under Roman Abramovich he would be under serious pressure right now, but that's forgetting that really, he would never have been in contention for the job in the first place. It would be wrong to say there is no pressure, there always is in the Premier League and the fact that Potter has an expensively assembled squad, whether it is his or not, doesn't help.
In a way, it was easier for Frank Lampard when expectations were low in 2019, but that's far from the point. Boehly now has a manager working with a squad that doesn't look capable of challenging for the top four let alone the title. Things haven't progressed well since winning the Champions League in 2021 and, though that's not Boehly's fault, on the surface it looks bad.
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Below the surface are a myriad of reasons why Chelsea are now struggling, from poor transfer strategy to lack of planning, injury issues to mentality questions, Potter has all of this dumped at his door as soon as he came in. Gary Neville, who blasted Boehly over the summer for his whirlwind tour of Europe's top agents and clubs in a battle to get transfer business done, has doubled down on that stance.
Speaking after the weekend's action, Neville said on his own podcast: "I got battered by Chelsea fans at the start of the season. I'm not surprised by what's happened at Chelsea. This has got the absolute hallmarks of a project that will take time.
"You look at what happened at the start of the season, there's no doubt that it was handled with crassness in the way in which the transfer window and market was being handled. That will take Chelsea a couple of years to recover from if they don't get it right."
Neville pointing out that the project is part of the bigger picture, that not only summer 2022 but also the years before that have all lead to a muddled squad with few joined-up ideas and a squad left a long way behind where they should be.
It isn't a quick fix though, and Neville pointed towards Boehly's summer actions once more, comparing it to the drop off of Manchester United since their last title win in 2013. "Graham Potter is under big pressure at this moment in time," he added.
"I hope he's not under pressure, I hope they see it through because this is a culmination of Abramovich leaving, the new owner coming in and sticking his chest out and going around Europe thinking he can play Football Manager. I've seen it before at this club [Manchester United], it doesn't tend to work.
"Chelsea have always been a really smart, efficient, clinical operator in the recruitment. They're one of the big stories at the start of the season and I think they'll improve but there are going to be questions asked.
"They're a club, and I look at Man United sometimes and think 'where's the £250m gone?' It's a quarter of a billion quid. Where's it gone? How have they enhanced the squad? Chelsea fans will be in a position whereby they'll have to test if the Abramovich reactive nature we've seen at Chelsea over the last 20 years is still there under the new ownership.
"They'll have to prove that they are a more forgiving, rational and looking at longevity."
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