With the international hiatus currently underway, Graham Potter has had an ideal time to settle into his new surroundings in Cobham and begin to discuss his plans and how we will settle down.
Not only that, but he has also had the chance to meet all of his new players at Chelsea, even the players who later went on international duty. But perhaps even more important than that is the fact that he has been able to continue to work with the players who stayed behind for a while and was able to meet a smaller group initially for themselves.
Chelsea played a friendly behind closed doors against Brighton last weekend and won 2-1, this gave Potter a chance to try out some things he might be thinking. And one of them was testing Trevoh Chalobah as a defensive midfielder.
It’s very reassuring and positive for me to see our new boss address an area on the pitch that I think we’ve been lacking in the last couple of seasons, the midfield area of contention. We’ve been missing that real defensive midfielder, and I like the fact that Potter is prepared to take a look at other options to solve that problem.
Graham Potter used Trevoh Chalobah in midfield in a friendly behind closed doors last week.
– @TheAthleticUK pic.twitter.com/x1IV2i0Ph0
— Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport) September 26, 2022
Chalobah is also fighting for his future at Chelsea, so I am also pleased to see that Potter is prepared to give these players a clean slate and a chance to impress him and secure a place in his team, as new manager.
Chalobah is primarily used as a defender but has also played as a defensive midfielder on loan plays and is more than capable of playing there. It will be interesting to see if Potter continues the experiment. We certainly need more of a traditional-type DM in the ranks, and I’m not sure Denis Zakaria is considered that just yet.
