There were some notable decisions made by Graham Potter in Sunday’s win against Crystal Palace, and I saw him being quite bold.
One of the things that hasn’t been mentioned much is that yes, of course Lewis Hall has kept Marc Cucurella out of the team, which is a bold enough decision on its own, but Potter even opted to bring in Kalidou Koulibaly to the left. during the game, instead of resorting to Cucurella.
Potter and Cucurella knew each other very well from their time in Brighton, so leaving him and ignoring him as a stand-in is very brave of Potter. And these are the kinds of decisions that we have been calling for and that must continue.
I have nothing against Cucurella, but he has been quite below his level since he arrived in the summer, so I think he deserves it. Even dropping Koulibaly early on on Sunday, who has also been below average, was a bold move and one that paid off. Benoit Badiashile had a good debut.
The only surprising thing is that David Datro Fofana has not started yet. But perhaps Potter feels that he isn’t ready yet and this could indicate that he will be moving on loan this month.
Trevoh Chalobah at right-back over César Azpilicueta was again a brave decision, especially since Chalobah was poor the previous game. It really shows our desperation to get a new right-back, but Chalobah was much better on Sunday, and it was another decision that paid off.
The other, of course, was starting Conor Gallagher over Mateo Kovacic. Gallagher was one of our biggest threats that day, and he was another one that paid off. These decisions won’t always pay off, but just being willing to make decisions like this is what it takes.
These are good signs, and we need more of this now if we really want to move forward. Leave players who are underperforming and play players on merit. We’ve seen a lot more of this Potter stuff in recent games and it’s good to see.
I don’t see any reason to rule out Badiashile for the next game, or even Hall (although he did have a couple of iffy moments).
Potter is doing what he has to do. Hopefully we can move on now after three vital points. However, I am keeping any strong hopes under wraps, personally, at least until we have more players in the most vital positions and injured players back.
