Graham Potter's versatility has taken another step as Chelsea boss. Having already been a flexible tactician and great communicator, the former Brighton boss was forced out of his comfort zone against Brentford but responded brilliantly.
Speaking before his side's frustrating 0-0 with the Bees, Potter and opposition manager Thomas Frank were put together by Amazon Prime in a new format of interviewing. The pair had both been extremely complimentary of each other in the lead up, with Potter saying: "I think Brentford are really good at what they do and Thomas [Frank] has done a fantastic job there.
"They use the quality of their players well, have limited resources compared to everybody in the Premier League but make the most of what they have. That is credit to Thomas and his staff and the players at Brentford. I am always impressed with the job they do."
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Potter also added: "I’ve followed his career since I’ve come back to the UK and I knew him in Sweden as well. I know him well, I like him as a person and we have similar thoughts about the game and life in general. I think coaches are judged by how much they get out of the players, how much the organise a team, how the results are in comparison to the expectation of those results, and he does a fantastic job.”
The praise was reciprocated from Brentford's Danish manager, with Frank admiring Potter's own rise, saying, "I’m very impressed with his work in general, also going further back to Swansea and Ostersunds in Sweden. I think what he did at Brighton was impressive, adding layers to the club and the team every single year.
"I like the way he sees football and the way he’s very flexible in terms of shapes and using players in different positions, I like that. He’s a very nice guy when I’ve come across him in the past."
Their relationship, which was first formed in the Championship as Swansea and Brentford faced off, went to a new level before the match though, with Amazon pitting them together in an unorthodox setting. Instead of the standard pre-match interview, both managers were offered the chance to ask each other a question.
Here's the interchange between them:
Thomas Frank: "First I will praise Graham a lot, it's been a fantastic journey that he's been on and I'm so happy that a coach that has been walking the long way has a chance at a big six club. Graham has shown his qualities hugely and no doubt he will do a good job at Chelsea.
"If I have to ask him one question, why are you changing your formation so many times?"
Graham Potter: "Good quesiton. Changing the formation, we don't see the formation as the end goal, we see how the team is playing. The team needs to look good regardless of the formation, it's about the personnel, how you want to attack the opponent, how you want to defend against the opponent.
"Those things we consider, hopefully there's things that look the same even though the shape changes.
"What do you think is the biggest difference between the Championship and the Premier League?"
TF: "The pace of the game, the quality of the players is crazy. You can make one minor mistake and it's not getting punished every time, but it gets punished so much more. The speed of the game and also here the level of the modern game, the amount of changes during the game, lots of teams are doing that more and more. Big challenge."
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