Chelsea head coach Graham Potter has revealed a number of senior gamers have knowledgeable him final summer time’s pre-season was the worst of their careers, believing it to be one reason for his or her subpar marketing campaign.
Following the ousting of Roman Abramovich as proprietor final 12 months amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital accomplished their takeover of the Blues shortly previous to the 2022/23 season.
Plans for pre-season have been swiftly organised, flying to the United States for 3 matches earlier than going through Udinese twice in Italy.
Manager Thomas Tuchel was sacked initially of September simply weeks after the tip of a frantic summer time switch window by which Chelsea spent a file spend of over £250m, with Potter arriving from Brighton quickly after.
Speaking forward of Sunday’s journey to Tottenham, Potter pointed to those elements as causes behind Chelsea’s disappointing season thus far.
In an unique interview with 90min, Joe Cole talks to Scott Saunders & Harry Symeou concerning all issues Chelsea. They speak about Graham Potter’s future, Mason Mount, the Blues’ switch coverage and extra.
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“My quote a few weeks ago was that this is probably the toughest job in football, and there are a lot of factors for that,” Potter mentioned.
“There was a sub-optimal pre-season – and speaking to a few of the experienced guys, they thought it was the worst pre-season they’ve had for different reasons. That isn’t to blame anybody for the reasons. It’s just that it happened.
“It was extra organisationally, for various causes, the tour didn’t fairly work in addition to they’d have favored. I wasn’t there so I can’t say.
“That was one thing, then old players left, new players came in, a manager change, and I turn up in the middle of a Champions League Saturday/Tuesday schedule. We have the most unprecedented injury situation in that period in the Premier League.
“We performed Newcastle earlier than the break and we had no Kepa [Arrizabalaga], no Reece James, no Ben Chilwell, no Marc Cucurella, no Wesley Fofana, no N’Golo Kante, no Raheem Sterling, no Ruben Loftus-Cheek after two minutes, and no Cesar Azpilicueta. We misplaced 1-0 and that’s the place we have been at.
“We then had the World Cup, then the club invest a lot of money in the squad and the pressure, expectation, and noise goes up. But the players we got, they’re not 28-year-old, 400-game Premier League players. They are young players that take time to adapt to, and at the same time we’ve got the injured players who have to get up to speed to play in the Premier League.
“That is the place we have been in. We thought we have been making progress however then we had the primary half towards Southampton – the third recreation in per week after a Champions League recreation – that was beneath par. Then the sky can fall in.”