I never like to claim I speak for all Chelsea fans – I absolutely do not. So I’d also like to say that of course, there will be some fans who do not feel this way still.
Disclaimer over, let’s get down to business.
I’ve continued to try and keep my faith in the project, and the manager. But admitted after the Spurs defeat on Sunday, that has seriously dwindled for me right now, and if they decide to pull the plug on Graham Potter, despite the fact I want to move away from the manager merry-go-round, they have pushed me to the point where I actually think it might be the right thing to do now.
I’ve invested in this project and fully backed it and Potter. It’s so tough for me to almost give up on it. But I’ve literally been pushed so hard away from it in the last few weeks, there doesn’t appear to be a way back for me. And that’s because the facts far outweigh anything else right now.
We aren’t seeing anything close to progression. We saw a bit of it in one game, but then we seriously digressed again and went backwards since.
Chelsea have scored just six goals in all competitions since November the 6th – the fewest of any side in the top four leagues in England, and forty fewer than Manchester United in the same period.
When you read a fact like that, it makes you wonder how on earth Potter is still the manager. If anyone else performed that hideously in their job, they’re gone. This is completely and entirely unacceptable and is the main reason I am now on a knife edge in terms of what I want to see and what I think needs to happen, and the fact that my faith in this project under Potter is now clinging on by the most minuscules bit of thread.
We’ve all been seeing the excuses and the reasoning for us not improving. Injuries, and players needing time to settle. These are not lies; these are valid reasons. But we have now got to the point where these excuses no longer stand and patience has run out. Even with the above, the lack of goals is completely inexcusable.
Our performances are inexcusable. The lack of identity that Potter has instilled so far is inexcusable. We cannot score goals, which is THE only way to win football matches. That’s a HUGE problem, as if I need to even state that obvious fact.
Potter’s decisions have become wilder and wilder and have no direction to them. Our team and lineup has become hugely unsettled and scarily sporadic, like he has no idea what his best team is. And we need to form our best Xl and make it settled.
There’s no leadership. So when there is no leadership, it’s down to the manager to lead, and he isn’t doing that I’m afraid. I’m never going to attack his personality or tell him he needs to change, but if we saw more from him on the sidelines, perhaps there would be a little more support at a stage where to be honest, he has even now lost the most patient of fans. I don’t see a way back right now.
There are petitions out there with thousands of signatures calling him him to be sacked, the media are all over it, and many fans I’ve spoken to will not be changing their minds anytime soon.
The club are now stuck between a rock and a hard place, because they’ve put a lot of trust and faith in Potter and they believe in their choice. Sacking Thomas Tuchel to replace him with a manager they hand selected as the ‘right man’, to then sack him and look to hire a third manager in the same season, is something that they will want to avoid at all costs. Imagine the circus that will ensue.
But unfortunately, right now, I struggle to see another way.
The facts make it impossible for me to continue ‘trusting the process’ right now, and I hate that they have pushed me to this. Although personally, I cannot bring myself to actively call for the sacking of another manager. My feelings are clear though.
I think potter has never had so many first class players tochoose from and that is down tothe board not him, but he has a team of so called experts to speak to, he doesn’t seem tobe using them, so he’s confused on how to get the best out of… Read more »