Graham
Potter has revealed the Chelsea squad have told him they had their "worst
pre-season ever" in the summer as the under-fire manager defended his side's
poor run of results.
Former Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel was in charge of Chelsea for their
tour of the US, which was planned by the previous regime before the £4.25bn
sale to the Todd Boehly-led consortium in May.
Chelsea have just one win in their last 10 matches in all competitions and
Potter is putting that partly down to the "suboptimal" pre-season some of
his players had.
"It's really tough [to integrate new players and get results]," said Potter
ahead of Sunday's trip to Tottenham in the Premier League, live on Sky
Sports.
"My quote a few weeks ago is that it's the toughest job in football, and
there are lots of factors for that.
"Speaking to a couple of the experienced guys, they thought it was the worst
pre-season they've had for different reasons. That's not to blame anybody -
that happens."
Asked for the reasons he replied: "Organisationally, the tour didn't work as
well as they'd like. I wasn't there so I can't say."
'I spoke to owners - support still there'
Potter was late to his news conference on Friday as he joked he had just
come from a crisis meeting with the owners following reports there were
high-power talks about the club's struggles this week.
The 47-year-old said he had chatted with the owners and they continue to
back him, as he took a dig at the media.
"I've spoken to them and it's the same as it's always been, there's always
been support," said Potter.
"I've been under pressure here for four months from you guys don't forget.
"[Their support] continues. They've been great and been brilliant. I think
they also see where we're at and at the same time are frustrated because
results are what they are and we have to do better."
'Transfer spending has increased pressure'
In the short time Potter has been in charge since he replaced Tuchel in
September it has been the biggest period of change in the club's recent
history
Chelsea have spent more than £600m in the transfer market over the last two
windows, but injuries and adaptation time have kept the Blues from turning
their fortunes around, according to Potter.
"There's a manager change in the middle of a Champions League Saturday,
Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday. We have the most unprecedented injury situation
in that period in the Premier League," he said.
"Then the World Cup. The club invests a lot of money in the squad which does
that (gestures upwardly) to the pressure, the expectation and to the noise.
"But the players that we've got are not 28-year-old, 400-game Premier League
players. They're young players that you need to take time to adapt to. At
the same time, the injury situation that we had [means] you have to try to
get them up to speed to play in the Premier League.
"We thought we were making progress and then we have the first half against
Southampton - our third game in a week returning from a Champions League
game - that was below par. The sky can then fall in. These are some of the
facts. Inconvenient facts if you say he's no use, but that's the situation."
top