Potter hinted at Chelsea's decline because of Tuchel
"It's really difficult to integrate with new players and immediately get good results," Potter said on February 24 at a press conference before the match against Tottenham 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 only 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 Chelsea for being inferior to the opponent in terms of determination, physical and mental, and admitted that he could not talk about the race for the Premier League title in the 2022-2023 season. The German coach said that the students could not adapt to the hot and humid weather and 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 the Chelsea manager with the worst record in the Premier League, with six draws, six losses and five wins - a win rate of 29.4%, far behind Tuchel with a win rate of 55.6%.
Potter was late to the February 24 press conference, and half jokingly said it was because 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, despite spending a total of $ 668 million to bring in 16 players over the last two transfer windows, injuries, adaptation time and the season interrupted by the 2022 World Cup are the reasons why Chelsea cannot turn around. change situation.
After being a guest of Tottenham, Chelsea returned home to play the next two matches, meeting Leeds in the English 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 Dortmund striker Karim Adeyemi's only goal.
