[Football] Has Graham Bitten Off More Than He Can Chew?

[zefarelly]

Strange question. There's a 3000 page thread on what is the best song you've heard today. Are we only supposed to comment on things that matter deeply then?

Personally I thought it might be a challenge for him but I'm enjoying immensely just how bad Chelsea have got. I wouldn't rule out him turning it around though. To be fair he's inherited a shocking squad of lazy has-beens, players who aren't good enough, sicknotes and expensive flops. It's not entirely his fault by any means.

I agree

I think he can do it, given time.

He'll need to sort out the prima donnas, bin off some, they won't all come round . . . blood new recruits as well as youth and hope he doesn't get stabbed in the back . . . Frank Lampard tried and got binned off. Looking back possibly the worst thing Chelsea hae done in recent years.

FWLIW I don't give a toss.

 

[Badger Boy]

I think I want him to succeed longer term because so few English coaches get the opportunity that he has right now. Chelsea need some stability, they've chosen their man and they should give him the chance to shape the squad as he wants it. Arsenal are currently being rewarded for taking that longer term view, allowing Arteta to have a few windows to get the right players in and probably more importantly, out. Chelsea have a few players they need to move on and they've overhauled their whole footballing infrastructure in the space of a few months. They need to take a bit of time to let it settle and start working.

In the meantime, I'm not unhappy to see them languishing below us and their bully boy tactics being exposed by other clubs. We did very nicely out of them with the sale of Cucurella and then our entire coaching set up. We've been able to continue to build and grow despite those theoretical set backs. Benfica seem particularly unhappy with Chelsea's pursuit of Fernandez and Arsenal presumably won't be happy that they'll basically spend any amount to prevent Mudryk going to Arsenal. It's not a healthy business practice, but one they've been doing for years.

 

[oldboyroy]

He won't be sacked irrespective of champions league place or not. Its a long term appointment and unless they fall into a relegation battle which, they won't, his job is safe this season. A big season next season for sure.

 

[Normal Rob]

You say it's a strange question, but then answer it (perfectly, I might add)

I guess, like the Price Harry fiasco, I can't really contain my indifference about Potter, but I'm fascinated by people's fascination. For me, Potter was a decent manager who I stopped caring about pretty much the minute he entered talks with Chelsea. I honestly don't give a fack about what happens to him in football. Odds are that one day he'll be sacked and lots of people here will gloat – or he'll win the CL and some Brighton fans (or weird Swedish posters with an unhealthy obsession) will claim he's a genius. I can't really get worked up either way about him, if I'm honest!

I don't 'care', but I'm interested for a couple of reasons.

1 - I like to see Chelsea fail as they are a nothing club. The name of the manager is normally somewhat irrelevant, but in this case it's GP.

2 - I want to see if GP is as good as I thought he was.

It's no more complicated than that in my case.

 

[JBizzle]

But the "shocking squad of lazy has-beens, players who aren't good enough, sicknotes and expensive flops" were all there when he signed up for the job. Potter knew exactly what he was going to get. Don't kid yourself that the move to Chelsea was about anything other than the money, knowing full well that even if they sacked him, he would be rich beyond measure.

Just money? Not ambition? People can take jobs for more than just cash. The opportunity to manage at the top level of both the English and European game should be something to which professionals aspire and it's clear that Potter is ambitious. I actually think they'd have got Potter FAR cheaper if they'd been bothered to haggle.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Strange question. There's a 3000 page thread on what is the best song you've heard today. Are we only supposed to comment on things that matter deeply then?

Personally I thought it might be a challenge for him but I'm enjoying immensely just how bad Chelsea have got. I wouldn't rule out him turning it around though. To be fair he's inherited a shocking squad of lazy has-beens, players who aren't good enough, sicknotes and expensive flops. It's not entirely his fault by any means.

And to be fair, a very long list of injured players.

Who wouldn't miss James, Kante, Chilwell, Mount, Fofana (and others)

Shame.

 

[Brovion]

As much as we like to grab the popcorn and enjoy a little schadenfreude as Graham struggles, I think he probably will sort it out if given the time. He's the kind of manager that wants to shift the whole culture of the club and that's not something that can happen overnight. My only concern for him is that maybe he needs a bit more of a mean streak when clashing with the egos of £50m+ players. I don't know if hoping to just earn their respect is going to work. I think he probably needs to demand it a bit more.

The $million question is whether Boehly will give him that time. He has said he would, and I don't really see a reason not to take him at his word at this point. I feel there is a lot of projecting going on with Boehly, expecting him to be the worse of all clueless owners with a new plaything, without any real evidence...yet.

Yeah, I tend to agree. Will he get the time though? People say Boehly isn't Abramovitch and it's a new regime at Chelsea now where the manager isn't fired at the first sign of trouble. Fair enough .... so why didn't he stick with Tuchel?

 

[barbus_max bhafc]

Champions League is a long way off for that lot, the best they can hope for is a 5th - 7th place. If they don’t get that Potter will be sacked at the Season end if not before - how sad, never mind

 

[US Seagull]

Yeah, I tend to agree. Will he get the time though? People say Boehly isn't Abramovitch and it's a new regime at Chelsea now where the manager isn't fired at the first sign of trouble. Fair enough .... so why didn't he stick with Tuchel?

It's a fair question, and I can totally understand somebody pointing to that and saying "See? He's just as sack happy as any other owner!", and maybe that'll prove to be true. The counter-argument is that Tuchel wasn't Boehly's manager and Boehly wanted to have a manager that matched his long-term philosophy. If memory serves, he dumped Tuchel pretty promptly after taking over and reportedly there were some serious disagreements over transfer policy and how much Tuchel was / should be involved.

So I wouldn't necessarily see it as a black mark against Boehly. Time will tell, and we might well look back in the middle of next season when Boehly's on his 5th manager since taking over and say "See! Red flag was right there at the start!"

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

GP has been amusingly promoted way beyond the level of his ability and is now being found out bigtime in a way he never was at the Albion. Highly funny to watch this car-crash happen in real time. Just a shame he had to drag some decent Albion people down with him

 

[Weststander]

With or without Potter, they'll spend literally £100m's, breaking FFP and Sustainability rules.

Boehly's hellbent on doing that, before a reported UEFA clampdown with tougher rules.

Can I see Potter steer the cheats into surpassing the other cheats PSG, ManC and likely Newcastle, as well as Manure and Arsenal who are also on vast spending sprees, I haven't the foggiest? But's it must necessarily end in tears for some of them. Is he a better boss than Guardiola, Howe, Ten Hag and Arteta?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Nope, give him time and he will sort it. Question is if Chelsea is a strong enough club to try to do something long-term or if they want to keep being a club trying to go for short-term fixes that makes them bounce up and down the league table.

By bounce up and down you presumably mean between first and fifth, mostly settling on third or fourth

 

[Seagull on the Hill]

GP has been amusingly promoted way beyond the level of his ability and is now being found out bigtime in a way he never was at the Albion. Highly funny to watch this car-crash happen in real time. Just a shame he had to drag some decent Albion people down with him

You've changed your mind Tom.
I'm sure you were one of his biggest fans when he was here.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

...

*EDIT* The quote feature on this new board is truly shite

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Thiago Silva and Sterling to appear in an emotionally intelligent reworking of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Enrest to get things back on track?

 

[pasty]

Wrong thread

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

You've changed your mind Tom.
I'm sure you were one of his biggest fans when he was here.

Not me, mate. Tho the big dumb echo chamber seems to have changed its tune somewhat

 

[Justice]

With or without Potter, they'll spend literally £100m's, breaking FFP and Sustainability rules.

Boehly's hellbent on doing that, before a reported UEFA clampdown with tougher rules.

Can Potter steer the cheats into surpassing the other cheats PSG, ManC and likely Newcastle, as well as Manure and Arsenal who are also on vast spending sprees, I haven't the foggiest? But's it must necessarily end in tears for some of them. Is he a better boss than Guardiola, Howe, Ten Hag and Arteta?

Apparently not they are very aware of FFP hence the lower bids to Benfica

 

[Swansman]

By bounce up and down you presumably mean between first and fifth, mostly settling on third or fourth

Ten years positions: 6, 3, 3, 1, 10, 1, 5, 3, 4, 4, 3. Is that good? Depends on the ambition. If they want to be the best and biggest club in England, which I believe is the case now but also under Abramovich, it is a failure. Teams like United/Arsenal in the past and more recently City has shown that it is possible to consistently be in the top 3, which is something Chelsea despite heavy spending have failed to achieve.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

He can’t really win. He’s a very capable coach, but the players he now has already know it all, so don’t want to learn from the likes of him. At Brighton the players followed his methods without question and even then it took time to meld. With Roberto they are now like sponges absorbing his ideas without question and look at the results. The problem at Chelsea is the entitled prima donnas not GP. Saying “ forget what TT has coached you to do and do as I say”, isn’t going to work with that lot