As
the only club to hold a 100-per-cent record when facing Spurs at the
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sunday's trip to north London for Chelsea felt
like it represented a pivotal moment for Graham Potter.
Help his team maintain that impressive record at the home of their rivals
and the manager would go a long way to relieving the pressure upon his
shoulders, not to mention winning over the fans who called for his departure
after the dispiriting defeat at home to Southampton last weekend.
But, at the same time, it felt like a defeat, coupled with another
performance lacking intensity, aggression and - most importantly - goals
would ratchet up the noise surrounding Potter's position to unbearable
levels.
Unfortunately for the former Brighton boss, the latter scenario is what
played out at Tottenham, with Spurs comfortably seeing off the feeble
challenge posed by Chelsea as they triumphed 2-0 to end a run of eight
matches - spanning nearly five years - without a Premier League win over the
Blues.
It is hard to see where Chelsea turn from here. The message coming from
Stamford Bridge after the loss to Southampton was that Potter still had the
support of Todd Boehly and the rest of Chelsea’s owners, but that faith will
be pushed to the limit in the wake of yet another hugely disappointing
display.
No matter how hard you look, it is hard to see where Potter has improved his
team since replacing the popular Thomas Tuchel in September. Chelsea lacked
a cutting edge in attack during much of the second half of the German’s time
in charge, but Potter has taken that profligacy to new levels.
Remarkably, Chelsea have scored just six goals in all competitions since
November 6 - the fewest of any side in the top four tiers of English
football and 40 fewer than Manchester United have produced in the same
period of time.
Potter has also failed to replicate Tuchel’s ability to produce strong
performances and results in the biggest games, with Chelsea 24 matches into
the league season yet still without a win against any top-half side.
Potter’s struggles are not for the want of trying, with Chelsea making an
average of 3.9 changes to their side per Premier League game - the
joint-highest rate of any team in the competition’s history.
The suggestion would be that the 47-year-old does not know his best XI,
although it is hard not to empathise with Potter in this respect, given the
injuries he has had to contend with and the exceptional number of players
that have been added to Chelsea’s squad since the new owners arrived.
However, those new players - 19 in total, signed for a total of more than
£600m - were some of the most sought-after in Europe and were brought in to
improve the squad, but that has failed to happen.
In fact, since the January transfer window opened, Potter has overseen one
win in 11 games in all competitions, with his side scoring just four goals
in that time. Despite the spending, Chelsea continue to get worse.
The west Londoners are now closer to the relegation zone than the top four
and have surely waved goodbye to their hopes of qualifying for the Champions
League, with Tottenham now 14 points ahead of their 10th-placed rivals in
fourth.
Boehly and his fellow investors did not imagine this scenario when they
recruited Potter five months ago, and nor would they have anticipated the
strength of feeling from the supporters against the man they hired to
spearhead the club’s new era.
Chelsea fans have never really taken to Potter. Their unhappiness at the
sacking of Tuchel has played a part, as has the Englishman’s perceived lack
of charisma compared to his predecessors at Stamford Bridge.
But after remaining apathetic towards Potter during much of reign, it felt
as though the tide turned once Southampton left west London with all three
points, with calls for his exit raining down from the stands.
With yet another defeat - against Tottenham of all teams, the side Chelsea
used to pride themselves on beating - Potter feels further away than ever
from proving he is the right man for the job.
Potter: I haven't done much to earn faith
Potter
admitted after defeat at Tottenham that he had not produced enough at
Chelsea to deserve an unlimited amount of support, but likened his situation
to that experienced by Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp at Arsenal and
Liverpool, respectively.
Asked whether he felt Boehly's support would evaporate after yet another
loss, Potter admitted: "There's always that question, absolutely, and you
can't stop the questions, and whilst the results are like they are then I
accept it - it's part of the job.
"We were talking before the game about watching the Arsenal All or Nothing
[documentary] and two years into Mikel's reign he's close to getting the
sack and people are wanting him out and it's a disaster. Obviously now
things have changed a little bit, but that's just the way it is.
"If you look at Jurgen's situation, they haven't got the results and all of
a sudden people want him out.
"That's just the nature of football and obviously I haven't done enough at
this club to have too much good faith and I also accept that as well. My job
is to not worry too much about that.
"I understand the question and totally understand where it comes from, and
just try to focus on helping the team and supporting the players because I
really like these players. They're good lads, they want to do better, they
want to win but at the moment we're suffering and that's my responsibility."
Hasselbaink: Players letting Potter down
Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes under-pressure
Potter will retain the board's support despite the poor run of form - but
says he must deliver in their next game against Leeds on Saturday at
Stamford Bridge.
He told Sky Sports: "When you are at a big club, and that is Chelsea, when
you lose two games in a row, that is the majority of the time already a
crisis.
"These owners have come in and they want to go in a different direction and
do this project. Potter is their man, so they are going to give him as much
time as possible. But they will also expect something back. He is under
pressure. That is what happens at big clubs.
"It's the nature of the game. The only way he's going to be able to control
it is by winning his next game against Leeds.
"It's good to hear that they are together and that it is a project and they
are going to stick together. But on the other hand, as a manager of Chelsea,
you also need to give something. You need to buy yourself time. And that
means you need to have some kind of results.
"At the moment, the results are not there, so the pressure on top of it is
only going to get more."
Hasselbaink also believes the players are letting Potter down with their
lack of commitment and feeling sorry for themselves.
"The Chelsea fans over the last 20 years have been spoiled with a lot of
wins," he added. "A lot of trophies and playing all the time at the top of
the league.
"This year it's different. Yes, they are starting all over. You could see
Thiago Silva, the most senior player, when he comes off, it falls apart a
little bit, because the team is very young. And when something goes wrong,
you can see that certain individuals feel a little bit sorry for themselves.
That's the feeling that I get.
"That is where they need to step out of it, as quickly as possible, because
they can still get sixth or seventh and get into Europe. They need to
realise that the commitment needs to be for 95 minutes, not just for 20
minutes."
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