Things are very difficult at Chelsea at the moment, but he can certainly be doing all he can to help himself with team selections, something I don’t think he’s been doing lately.
Potter has continued to amaze us by sticking with constant underachievers and average players who have been bad for years, and ignoring the brilliant players who could really make a big difference and are eager to impress.
This is my biggest complaint. I’ve always done my best to support Potter, but his recent team selections and decisions make that almost impossible. Please, Graham, help yourself, and you can start Leeds on Saturday, as it looks like the board of directors are at least giving you that chance.
Don’t pick players that you think are ‘reliable’ or ‘experienced’ and won’t let you down. Remember, there is such a thing as a bad experience.
I really like Graham as a person, which is why it’s so hard to witness this situation. As a manager, while he has shown in the past that he shows signs of being a good manager, he certainly isn’t showing it at Chelsea at the moment, as we continue to wander rather than improve.
I still want to win games, and you’ll never find me becoming one of those fans who wants us to lose only to get the manager fired. I could never be like this.
Of course I want us to beat Leeds United. And I’m not saying the team pick below will guarantee you a win on Saturday, but you would certainly have a lot more confidence in this team pick, rather than the horrible one that came out on Saturday.
This is what I would go for:
I personally think Ben Chilwell needs a bit of a rest, and I don’t have a lot of faith in Marc Cucurella at the moment either, so that’s why I would have Lewis Hall there. While he looked poor in one game, the previous four or five games he was excellent, and I have no idea why they ignore him now. Carney Chukwuemeka needs to get back to that bench at least, because he has style and can come in and make an impact.
There are people who ask for a defense of three, but personally I want us to continue trying to perfect the defense of four. I also want us to have a stable lineup and lineup going forward. We need to build a trust with our best Xl, and we need to form partnerships and bonds across the field. Only repetition will make that happen, on the field.
Denis Zakaria simply HAS to play close to Enzo as our deepest midfielder. Enzo needs protection, and we need that physicality and defensive stability there. I would even contemplate a 4-3-3 with Zakaria as the traditional holding midfielder staying completely disciplined, then staggering Enzo and Felix ahead of him.
Thiago Silva will obviously be injured on Saturday, and I’m a bit divided on who I would captain to be honest. Reece James shows leadership skills, but he’s still too quiet on the field for me and that’s just his personality.
I think I would give it to Raheem Sterling, leading from the front. He has captaincy experience and is the most experienced player in this lineup.
At the end of the day, could this batch really do worse than the ones that lined up against the Spurs? No.
