Coach Potter hinted at Chelsea's decline because of Tuchel
"It's really difficult to neutralize new players with immediate results," Potter said on February 24 at the press conference before the Tottenham match in the 25th round of the Premier League. "I've said many times that this is the hardest job, and there are a lot of factors to that. Many experienced players tell me that they had the worst pre-season for various reasons. different. In terms of organization, the tour was not as effective as they wanted. I was not present at the time so I can't say more."
During the pre-season tour in the US, Chelsea beat Mexico's representative Club America 2-1 in Las Vegas, lost to MLS club Charlotte 3-5 in a penalty shootout and then lost 0-4 to Arsenal. At that time, Tuchel criticized the team for being inferior to the opponent in terms of determination, physical and mental, and admitted that he could not talk about the race to win the Premier League title in the 2022-2023 season. The German coach said that the students could not adapt to hot and humid weather, constantly had to move and compete with different time zones.
The opening match of the Champions League lost to Dinamo Zagreb on September 6 was the last straw, causing owner Todd Boehly to decide to change the general. Chelsea, as Tuchel himself described with anger at his post-match press conference in Zagreb, have "played their recent matches with a lack of determination, a lack of precision and a lack of killer instincts". In total, Tuchel led Chelsea 100 games, won 60, drew 24, lost 16 matches, won the Champions League, European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
After succeeding Tuchel, Potter could not help Chelsea find form again. They won only one of the last five matches and fell 10th in the Premier League with 31 points, 11 points behind Tottenham's fourth place. Potter is Chelsea's worst manager in the Premier League, with six draws, six losses and five wins - reaching a win rate of 29.4%, far behind Tuchel's 55.6%.
Potter was late to the press conference yesterday, and half jokingly said the reason was that he had just had a crisis meeting with the owners. The British coach said he still received the support of Boehly and his associates. "Don't forget that I've been under pressure here for four months," Potter added. "They've been fantastic and still support me. They know where Chelsea are and at the same time are very disappointed with the result and we have to do better."
According to Potter, spending a total of 668 million USD to bring in 16 players over the last two transfer windows, but injuries, adaptation time and the season interrupted by the 2022 World Cup made Chelsea unable to turn the situation around.
After being a guest of Tottenham this week, Chelsea returned home to play the next two matches, meeting Leeds in the Premier League and Dortmund in the second leg of the 1/8 Champions League round. In the first leg in Germany, Chelsea lost 0-1 because of the only goal of striker Karim Adeyemi.
