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Football London
Football London
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Kieran Horn

Graham Potter slammed for 'unacceptable' response to Aston Villa loss amid Chelsea sack pressure

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has been brutally slammed for his answers to the Blues' disappointing defeat at the hands of Aston Villa. For the second successive Stamford Bridge fixture, after the 2-2 draw with Everton, Chelsea were unable to secure three points, despite dominating most of the contest against Villa.

"If you look at the stats of the game, apart from the most important stat, there's a lot there that says we did a lot well but ultimately the two boxes are the most important area and that's where we've come up short," Potter said after the game.

"I thought the team gave everything, I thought the intention of the team was there. You could tell by the amount of times we got in their box, the shots we had, there was a positive intent but the score line is painful for us."

READ MORE: Graham Potter refuses 'Didier Drogba or Diego Costa' transfer demand as Chelsea future uncertain

Following Potter's comments after the defeat, the Chelsea head coach has faced unrelenting blame regarding a number of factors. The decision to use Reece James at right centre-back certainly seems at the top of the complaint list, but to Jamie O'Hara, the response from Potter to another defeat was a major issue which in turn saw him unleash a barrage of criticism.

"Graham Potter was brilliant at Brighton and I really want him to succeed at Chelsea but there is absolutely no way I can see this turning round," O'Hara said on Sky Sports. "The saving grace is that they're in the Champions League but they've got to play Real Madrid and if they get through that, then fair play to him, but I can't see it.

"The league table for me just rings alarm bells. If you're below Fulham, Aston Villa, Brentford and Brighton and you're Chelsea football club, you've spent £600million and got rid of Thomas Tuchel, who's gone to Bayern Munich and just beaten Borussia Dortmund in his first game and comes out after his first game and says they still need to be better.

"Graham Potter comes after getting beaten and says 'boys gave it everything today', you're not at Brighton, you're at Chelsea football club, you have to come out and demand more from your players, it's unacceptable.

"You've been beat by Southampton and Aston Villa at home, it's shocking. He hasn't got the players, the players are not on side, you can't lose the players you haven't got. They have not bought into him since the moment he walked in the door. He hasn't got them so he may as well start doing something different and start acting like a Chelsea manager."

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