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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Oisin Doherty

Liam Brady - Chelsea win 'a stay of execution' for Graham Potter

Liam Brady believes Chelsea's big win over Borussia Dortmund could be a 'stay of execution' for under-pressure blues boss Graham Potter.

Tonight's win was just the 11th of Potter's reign since taking charge of the club in September. A lack of goals coupled with early exits in the League Cup and FA Cup had many questioning the Englishman's future at the club.

Analysing tonight's game on RTE, both Liam Brady and Stephen Kelly were unconvinced by aspects of Chelsea's performance, with Kelly particularly critical of Potter's decision to substitute Joao Felix and Matteo Kovacic, while still referring to tonight's result as a lifeline for Potter.

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Regardless, Chelsea got the job done and secured Potter the biggest win since his time in charge. Brady, however, feels this might just be a temporary reprieve for the former Brighton manager.

"For me, it's a stay of execution," Brady said on RTE.

"He has to do his stuff. Stephen's absolutely right, he has to get it going in the league and has to climb up the league. He'll probably get to the end of the season now with that result.

"But much will depend - whether he's going to be there next season - between now and the end of May."

The Arsenal legend believes a better team would have managed the game better in the second half than Chelsea did.

He also points to a fortuitous awarding and subsequent retaking of a penalty which Kai Havertz eventually scored to put the Premier League side two goals to the good.

"They scraped home tonight. Bit fortunate with the penalty incident.

"It went their way by the letter of the law. But they weren't convincing at all and there were some poor performances from top players really.

"Enzo Fernandes who I thought was a brilliant player in the World Cup didn't really feature tonight. Raheem Sterling as Ronnie said in commentary looks as though he's lost a yard of space.

"There's still a big question mark on how long Potter will be at Chelsea.

"But I'm happy for Potter. He's a good guy. His assessment of games is always honest. If his team doesn't play well he tells people that.

"I think he's a good guy and he deserved that break tonight."

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