Chelsea started the Graham Potter era with a disappointing 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg in the Champions League. The Blues have now registered a single point from two Champions League fixtures. It was obviously a big moment for the former Brighton manager who was involved in his first Champions League game and after such a disappointing result he surely faced the heat.
Chelsea had the early lead through Raheem Sterling who looks like the only player in attack for them with some form this season. However Salzburg replied through Noah Okafor in the 75th minute to level the scoreline and the game more or less ended there as the last 15 minutes saw both sides canceling each other out.
While Salzburg will be happy with a draw against the Premier League heavyweights, the Blues surely wanted a win after going through drastic changes that saw the dismissal of their former manager Thomas Tuchel. After the match Potter was honest enough to admit the flaws and said how they were not good enough to take their chances. “We are disappointed with the result, the boys gave everything. Attacked quite well, missed a bit in the final bit in the first half. Scored a good goal,” Potter told BT Sport in the post match interaction.
He shared how it has not been easy for the players and it is only the first game under his reign so things will improve in future. But at the same time he also highlighted how tis is not the result that he wanted to start off his Chelsea career.
“A little moment for the goal, apart from that we responded well. It is what it is, we have to dust ourselves down. We will get better. It’s always irritating when you concede. Overall, the defensive performance was quite good. The little details we have to improve. First game, it’s not easy for the boys, they responded well to us. It’s not the result we wanted, it’s a point we have to take it. We will get better,” Potter shared.
But as things stand, Chelsea are at the bottom of their group and now they will face back to back games against AC Milan next. So they will have to find a way to stop the flow or else they will be in deep trouble. While Potter admits that it is not the position the team wants to be in, he believes in the quality of the roster to fightback from here.
“It’s not the position we want to be in but we have to respond, it’s as simple as that. It’s a tough group but there’s enough quality in the squad and we have to respond to those two games,” Potter concluded.
