Graham Potter revealed what Chelsea will look like on the field under his management, and refused to answer a question about Todd Boehly and Roman Abramovich....CONTINUE READING
Potter was installed as the new Chelsea manager last Thursday. The 47-year-old Englishman received rave reviews for the work he did at Brighton and was appointed less than 36 hours after Thomas Tuchel was sacked.
Potter was denied the chance to lead his team out at the weekend when Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Fulham was postponed due to the Queen’s passing.
The Blues’ clash with Liverpool next weekend has also been shelved, meaning tomorrow’s Champions League fixture against RB Salzburg will be Potter’s only match in charge in the month of September.
Regardless, it is an important one after Chelsea slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb in their Group Stage opener last week.
Speaking ahead of the Wednesday night contest, Potter addressed a wide variety of topics in his first official press conference at the helm.
Firstly, when asked to expand further on his description of the Chelsea opportunity as being ‘too good to turn down’ when penning an open letter to Brighton fans, Potter said: “You have to look at the football club here.
“The tradition, the quality, to compete in the Premier League and Champions League, it’s a completely different challenge to the one I had.
“I am very, very excited as you can imagine and looking forward to getting going.”
A risk joining Chelsea?
The subject of whether it was a risk leaving the relative security of Brighton for the hot-seat at Chelsea was then broached.
“Life is about going outside your comfort zone,” said Potter. “Taking responsibility, believing there is more to us that sits here now.
“I don’t see it as a risk in a negative way, but everything is a bit of an unknown.”
When asked how he’s been received by the Chelsea squad, the new boss hailed the character of the group when declaring it’s been a completely positive reception.
“The response has been really positive,” he added. “A really honest group, a really responsible group.
“They’ve been positive around the training ground. They want to achieve and do well. I am happy with the team and the squad.”
Graham Potter searching for better Chelsea balance
Potter was then asked what a Chelsea team under his management will look like.
Explaining how it may differ from Tuchel’s side that came in for criticism for being too cautious, he suggested there’ll be a better balance between attack and defence.
“I’ll promise I’ll do my very best every single day,” he continued. “The team I’d like to see is balanced between attack and defence. We want a humble team that fights.
“We want our own identity and that supporters can see what we’re going to do.”
Finally, the 47-year-old was quizzed on whether he’d have taken taken the Chelsea job if the call had come during the previous regime.
The Abramovich era was typified by roaring successes on the field, though managers were often hired and fired with alarming regularity.
Potter refused to answer questions based around “ifs” and buts, claiming: “It’s not fair on the current owners to compare and the previous regime to compare.
“It was what it was and it had amazing success. But our job is to create our own path and that is what we will be doing.”
All eyes will now be on Chelsea home clash with Salzburg at 8pm BST on Wednesday night.
However, Potter confirmed he’ll be without two first-teamers for the contest through injury: goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and N’Golo Kante.
