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Potter's tenure at Chelsea came to an end after seven underwhelming months at the Bridge.
Former Chelsea manager Graham Potter has opened up on the challenges he faced during his brief and tumultuous tenure at Stamford Bridge.
Appointed in September, 2022 to replace the dismissed Thomas Tuchel, Potter inherited a squad grappling with instability and a demanding schedule.
Speaking about his time at Chelsea in a recent episode of the High Performance show on YouTube, the former Brighton manager highlighted the challenging circumstances he walked into, pointing out that the problems started before his arrival.
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"Thomas (Tuchel) is a fantastic football coach, but they’d lost to Arsenal in preseason, Leeds, Southampton, and Zagreb. So the team was in a moment of growing," Potter explained.
The departure and arrival of several players added to the uncertainty. "Six players had come in, six had left. Already there’s a turnover of players, you just need to stabilize a little bit," he said.
The situation was further complicated by a grueling fixture list of 14 matches in six weeks before the World Cup, during which key players like N’Golo Kanté, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, and Wesley Fofana suffered injuries.
Without Chelsea's renowned wingbacks, who had been pivotal to the team’s attacking strategy, Potter struggled to maintain consistency.
The January transfer window brought significant investment, with high-profile signings such as Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez, and Benoit Badiashile. However, Potter warned that integrating such young, inexperienced players mid-season was always going to be difficult.
"If you’re buying players from outside the Premier League, maybe players on a mid-season break, they need to get up to speed," Potter said.
He contrasted these signings with players like Declan Rice and Harry Kane, who he described as "Premier League ready."
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The intense scrutiny and expectations at Chelsea only compounded the pressure. "There’s a demand that you have to win. At Chelsea, there’s not much time to develop and bed people in because there’s an expectation from the fans that we have to win," he admitted.
Potter’s tenure came to an end on April 2, 2023, after less than seven months in charge. He was replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, who also struggled to meet expectations and was eventually succeeded by Ange Maresca who has guided the Blues back in top-four contention.
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