Chelsea boss Graham Potter frustrated following Manchester City thrashing as he hits back at media criticism

 

Chelsea have now lost back to back games against Manchester City this season and with these results the pressure is mounting on manager Graham Potter. Firstly the Blues lost 1-0 against the Citizens in the Premier League clash as Potter’s men are already trailing in 10th position on the points table and the way they are playing, european football for next season looks really difficult.

However the biggest blow of the season was the 4-0 defeat against Pep Guardiola’s men in the FA Cup third round match. Chelsea were simply clueless as City turned out to be a way too superior team for them. Riyad Mahrez scored a brilliant brace whereas Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden added a goal each. Alvarez, who recently won the World Cup with Argentina scored from the spot after he started ahead of Erling Haaland, who was rested for this cup game.

Chelsea manager Graham Potter understands he is under pressure as the team has not performed well in the Premier League or in cup matches. So to divert that focus he stated how he tries to remain calm and be responsible despite some of the media questions being very stupid.

“There are times when you get cross, and you get angry. But my responsibility is to speak (to the media) in as respectful a way as I can, even though some of your questions are stupid,” Potter said.

Chelsea have lost four out of their last six games in all competitions which includes consecutive defeats against Manchester City. They have also won once in eight matches in the Premier League speaking volumes about their current form.

The former Brighton and Hove Albion man was brought midseason by the new owners and management following their dismissal of Thomas Tuchel who helped the club win the Champions League for the second time in their history. But he got little to no respect from the management as he was unceremoniously sacked. Now with the new manager coming in things have not been great for the Blues and even for Potter as every defeat from here on lands him in the danger zone.

Potter did have a good start to his Chelsea stint but those results and that form are a thing of the past now. When asked about monitoring the criticism of him, Potter shared that he does not read newspapers and stays away from social media. But is smart enough to know how situations are and what people can say when things necessarily aren’t going the way where they should.

“I do not know. I do not read the newspapers. I stay away from social media. I am not naive to know that when you are having the results that we have, there is not going to be criticism and negativity – that would be strange for me to think that. And, again, I am not sitting here as some egomaniac that has all the answers and gets everything right – of course, that is not the case,” Potter shared.

Potter believes that the Blues are in a transition phase with the new owners coming in and also some changes happening internally and also on the roster which needs time to incorporate as he also highlights how some things are more challenging in the Premier League. Injuries have also played a major role and it has not been helpful for the Englishman in this phase.

“There are some challenges that we face. There are some margins in the Premier League that are difficult. We have had a massive transition (with new owners at Chelsea), problems in terms of injuries do not make it easy to be stable,” he reasoned.

Chelsea will be out on the road again as they will travel to Craven Cottage to face a tricky Fulham side but with the firepower that they have, the Blues will be favourites to win the game as they aim to return to winning ways.