William Gallas has said Graham Potter "baffles" him for using Raheem Sterling as a left wing-back for Chelsea against Red Bull Salzburg two weeks ago.
The 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in the second Champions League group match is the only game Potter has had in charge of the Blues since being appointed head coach earlier in the month. In the match, many were surprised to see Sterling lining up as a left wing-back.
The England international did, however, score the only goal of the game for Chelsea in west London. Sterling was able to find plenty of space out on the left and was not asked to track back as much as a normal wing-back would.
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Sterling was brought to Chelsea in the summer from Manchester City, where he established himself as one of the most dangerous wide attackers in the Premier League. Gallas, when speaking to Genting Casino, has slammed Potter for how he used Sterling on the night two weeks ago.
"That is a problem. When I saw Sterling playing as a left wing-back, I didn't understand it," the former Arsenal and Chelsea defender said. "It's difficult for me to understand why he wants to experiment with something like this, especially in a Champions League game.
"You are playing at home and you put [Marc] Cucurella as a centre-back, you have [Wesley] Fofana on the bench with [Kalidou] Koulibaly, [Trevoh] Chalobah on the bench, and you put Sterling as a left-wing back? I don't understand.
"In the end, they didn't have a good result, they drew 1-1. People will always judge the result, and the question is why did he put those two players in those positions?"
Gallas went on to speak about Potter in more detail and admitted he is not 100 per cent convinced by the former Brighton head coach just yet. Potter made the Seagulls one of the Premier League's most attractive sides to watch during his time down at the Amex Stadium.
It's a gamble from Todd Boehly and the rest of the new-look Chelsea board, but it's a long-term project they are fully invested in. football.london understands Boehly is prepared to hand Potter plenty of time to make this Chelsea side his own and make the Blues one of the dominant forces in Europe once again.
"Graham Potter seems like a nice guy and a good manager, but I'm still waiting to see what he's going to do to get Chelsea back to top form," Gallas added. "He looks very calm, and looks like he likes to have conversations with his players from what I see from the outside, but I don't know if he's like this in reality.
"I'm still waiting. He did a good job at Brighton, but Chelsea is not Brighton, he has gone to another level with more expectations, more pressure, so it will be good to see if he can be the right manager."
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