In the midst of a slight downturn in form, the knowledge that Roman Abramovich had landed in London was often enough to leave any Chelsea manager feeling uneasy. His was an era of ownership at Stamford Bridge so ruthless that the hypothetical question being asked by fans is just how long ago Abramovich would have discarded Graham Potter.
This does not mean there is a widely held belief that Potter should be dismissed in the wake of their latest defeat. Instead, that thinking offers a reminder of the unforgiving environment that came with managing Chelsea in the Abramovich era — but it does also underline just how quickly the team has fallen in recent months.
One win in eight Premier League games leaves the two-times European champions tenth in the table, ten points off the Champions League qualification places, and pressure mounting on Potter. No man would have survived that under Abramovich’s ownership.
Among the many questions that hang over Chelsea right now, the most pertinent is how patient his successors will be. Todd Boehly, the new Chelsea chairman, and his co-owners were at Stamford Bridge to see Thursday night’s loss to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, a fifth defeat in eight Premier League games for Potter.
Their visit was with the intention of improving the Chelsea squad and they were joined by Darijo Srna, the Shakhtar Donetsk sporting director, as negotiations over a move to hijack Arsenal’s attempt to sign Mykhailo Mudryk continue; they were not there to make a decision on the head coach’s future. They remain confident that Potter will guide Chelsea through this period and that the results are a consequence of a squad hit by an almost unprecedented series of injuries.
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Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic ended Thursday night on the sidelines, taking the list of senior absentees to ten players; Sterling underwent a scan to assess the extent of damage to his hamstring, an injury sustained in the first minute of Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat.
Potter has never had the chance to play N’Golo Kanté and largely been without Reece James, Ben Chilwell and the summer signing Wesley Fofana in his short tenure. Boehly and the Chelsea board were encouraged by the team’s performance against a side as impressive as City, given the impact injuries had on Potter’s squad. He persisted with a positive, attacking approach.
Youngsters Omari Hutchinson, Lewis Hall and Carney Chukwuemeka finishing on the field offered an illustration of the depleted resources at Potter’s disposal. Hutchinson, the 19-year-old winger, made his professional debut off the substitutes’ bench against a City side that featured Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne and goalscorer Riyad Mahrez. The contrast was stark — perhaps partly why there was no sign of dissent from home fans at the final whistle of a game that Chelsea deserved to draw but always looked destined to lose.
Potter later appeared at a packed press conference like a man carrying the heavy weight of expectation that comes with such a high-profile job. The noise of City players celebrating victory reverberated from the away dressing room next door. Potter’s words were measured — he called for unity as questions came over Chelsea’s unlikely chances of qualifying for the Champions League — but rarely has he shown such signs of feeling the pressure.
“The situation we’re in, to think about what’s going to happen in five months’ time is the wrong path for us,” he said. “We have to just focus on the next day and the next game and keep being together, keep showing the performance level we showed today, keep taking the challenges that are coming our way and try to stay together as a team and as a club and move forward.”
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The problem for Potter is that he arrived at Chelsea in September with a point to prove. Could his remarkable coaching record at Brighton & Hove Albion, Swansea City and Ostersunds translate to one of the elite clubs where winning is the only option? Still we do not know. An exact assessment of Potter’s potential at this level is impossible to reach right now, given the caveats.
Alongside the injuries, Potter has had to handle an influx of new players and colleagues, with a freshly formed recruitment team at Chelsea, as well as the interruption of the World Cup. Few football clubs have ever experienced such drastic change and, during that period, very little has fallen in Potter’s favour.
Losing to City is no embarrassment. It has happened to Chelsea often enough. The same result occurred last season, yet Thomas Tuchel carried the confidence of a coach who had won the Champions League four months earlier.
Frank Lampard was beaten home and away during his tenure but was a fan favourite after a playing career that made him an icon of the club. Antonio Conte also lost home and away to Guardiola in his second year in charge, yet was a title-winning coach before setting foot in Stamford Bridge.
Hiring Potter was a bold, brave decision from Boehly and the Chelsea board. Opportunities for unproven coaches are a rarity at the level of English football’s elite. The belief at Stamford Bridge is that, by the time they emerge from this turbulent patch, Chelsea will still be within it.
