POT LUCK
As we can see at clubs like Everton and Southampton and Watford and QPR, sacking your manager every 10 to 15 minutes proves counter-productive when it comes to building a successful football team. Yet somehow it seems to work for Chelsea. During the last 25 years, they’ve booted, in short order, the likes of Big Cup winner Roberto Di Matteo, Big Cup winner Rafa Benítez, World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari, FA Cup winner Ruud Gullit, Big Cup and Premier League winner José Mourinho, Premier League and Serie A winner Antonio Conte, Big Cup winner Thomas Tuchel … and Frank Lampard. And with barely a second’s thought either! But look at all that silverware.
So there’s no denying their hair-trigger tendencies are effective. That goes approximately 100% of the way to explaining why Graham Potter is under so much pressure at the moment in his new role as Former Brighton Boss (he’s not been totally accepted as Chelsea Manager yet). Potter has only been in the job for a few months, yet is attracting criticism as a result of his team having won just two of their last 13 games, his failure to performatively rant and rave like an unreasonable toolbag at VAR’s failure to award Chelsea a penalty last weekend, and his apparent inability to meld together £583m worth of fresh-from-the-box talent so they immediately play like Brazil at the 1970 World Cup. Oi Graham! Get your gameface on quicksmart, will you, there’s a good lad.
The more reasonable members of the Chelsea support – for example, those who go to the match, swerve social media abominations, and/or are over the age of six – will be minded to give Potter time in order to implement the ideas which see Brighton currently sitting four points and four places above them in the Premier League table. (Roberto De Zerbi can’t keep getting all of the credit for what’s happening there, he just can’t.) However, Big Cup defeat in Dortmund on Wednesday certainly wouldn’t help Potter’s cause, or put a stop to all the preposterous pressure-patter that Football Daily is inadvertently adding to by writing this.
The good news for the new man is that the Chelsea board are reportedly all in on Potterball for the long haul, even if this transitional phase lasts longer than feels strictly comfortable. And in any case, should Dortmund do a number on them, chances are that’d be because Jude Bellingham is rather good, and reports suggest Mr Todd has plans to cough another £100m-plus to land him in the summer anyway. So whatever happens, all appears rosy going forward. Will this new patient process pay off for Chelsea? We’ll have to wait and see. Providing Chelsea do, of course.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Scott Murray from 7.30pm GMT for hot Premier League MBM coverage of Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City, while Daniel Harris will be on deck for Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Chelsea in Big Cup at 8pm.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Bowers throw away a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3, as Wingate score four times in the last eight minutes. No other way to put it than we’ve [effed] it” – full marks to the Bowers & Pitsea official Social Media Disgrace Twitter account after the team’s dramatic Isthmian League defeat at Wingate & Finchley. Impressively, Wingate’s keeper came up and scored … and it wasn’t even their winning goal.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Jesse Marsch’s potential reappearance at Southampton (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition) would be proof that you never forget how to fall off a bike, as the saying goes” – Jacob Zelten [would be – Football Daily Ed].
Following Robert Blanchard’s missive about sitting opposite a happy Roy Hodgson (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), a few moons ago, I bumped into George Best as I left an airport lounge on the way to board a flight. No words were exchanged, but he half-smiled and nodded to my fawning expression as if to say, ‘yes, I am George Best’” – Gerry Rickard.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Rollover.
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