The man is still here and he's darn happy about it.
Graham Potter | turns down Ajax job
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
The man is still here and he's darn happy about it.
Five wins, one draw and one loss in 7 CL matches is a good record though. Results and performances in Europe have been very good under Potter, it's just the domestic footy that's been a total trainwreck so far.
I'm still very much in the Potter bandwagon despite the PL struggles. Defending has generally been quite good (2nd in PL goals conceded only after Newcastle and 5th in xGA after Newcastle, City, Brighton and Arsenal) since Potter came in. The attacking side of the game just hasn't worked out but IMO it's not been missing much so I'm definitely willing to see things out with Potter. Just need to get a few good results and it's very possible things will start to finally click, confidence in football is a fickle beast.
From the comments I'm seeing from the players they seem to like Potter too so it seems he's still very much in control of the dressing room. Of course no player is going to publicly come out and slate the manager if they wish to continue playing for the club but they don't exactly have to suck up to him either if they don't really fancy him.
Graham Germanicus
Again. Even the best managers would have struggled with the things Potter has had to deal with. Not having any of this shit that Tuchel would have done any better.
We will never know regarding Tuchel's performance, but most managers dream of being handed players like Felix and Fernandez. For Potter it has somehow almost become an excuse.
As excuses go, “having to cope with hundreds of millions made available to invest in your squad, in an attempt to try and stockpile all the best young players in Europe” is definitely a bit out there.
Not English though innit. English achievements > dodgy forrin achievements.
What, being able to spend £300m in January?! Come on!
Integrating 300 million worth of players in January?… with a bunch of people still on the squad who know they have no future there and are making noise? …. Still working in your best mainstays back to fitness from injury?
Yeah … there is a lot to overcome there.
But what Chelsea fans need to understand is that isn’t the reason keeping Potter is important. They KNEW a lot of this was coming. They hired very good football people they trust who told them, essentially, “this squad is a mush mash pile of sh!t”
They knew, and they gave Potter and his team of people there would be both patience and a plan in building things back up. They wanted him to experiment with younger players, and find out what we had for sure with others. They publicly stated top 4 wasn’t a bearing on him keeping his job. That he would be judged in years, not months.
I get oppo fans wanting him sacked for sheer amusement. But Chelsea fans, who cheered when all that money was spent, demanding g a complete abandonment of the process, a return to player power, going back on our word in the conditions Potter took the job, and not even giving him a single real Summer … I just don’t get it.
Firing Potter would be a death knell on the new owners views that anything of real, lasting value can be built at this club … because it will always be subject to the whims of short-sighted mobs.
And I do t want to see mention of Tuchel as a “comparison” anymore. He wasn’t fired for anything to do with on field performance and everyone knows it at this point…. So what’s the point?
And if a new manager came in and they started winning every game? Do people really think there is some “tactical genius” that makes that happen? No, it would mean there were other factors affecting play, and they would always be there the moment it didn’t go their way again.
Do people really think they hired that New Zealand coach to “build culture”? They hired him because he’s an expert at identifying unfixible problems in dressing rooms.
But, as I said two weeks after Potter was hired, the only thing that can really derail the “Plan” is Chelsea fans.
Yeah … there is a lot to overcome there.
But what Chelsea fans need to understand is that isn’t the reason keeping Potter is important. They KNEW a lot of this was coming. They hired very good football people they trust who told them, essentially, “this squad is a mush mash pile of sh!t”
They knew, and they gave Potter and his team of people there would be both patience and a plan in building things back up. They wanted him to experiment with younger players, and find out what we had for sure with others. They publicly stated top 4 wasn’t a bearing on him keeping his job. That he would be judged in years, not months.
I get oppo fans wanting him sacked for sheer amusement. But Chelsea fans, who cheered when all that money was spent, demanding g a complete abandonment of the process, a return to player power, going back on our word in the conditions Potter took the job, and not even giving him a single real Summer … I just don’t get it.
Firing Potter would be a death knell on the new owners views that anything of real, lasting value can be built at this club … because it will always be subject to the whims of short-sighted mobs.
And I do t want to see mention of Tuchel as a “comparison” anymore. He wasn’t fired for anything to do with on field performance and everyone knows it at this point…. So what’s the point?
And if a new manager came in and they started winning every game? Do people really think there is some “tactical genius” that makes that happen? No, it would mean there were other factors affecting play, and they would always be there the moment it didn’t go their way again.
Do people really think they hired that New Zealand coach to “build culture”? They hired him because he’s an expert at identifying unfixible problems in dressing rooms.
But, as I said two weeks after Potter was hired, the only thing that can really derail the “Plan” is Chelsea fans.
Three wins a row now. Let’s hope they have a blip soon… 
Hopefully this is a short term winning run. I kinda miss mocking this guy.
Fear not ….blip blip blip just round the corner, hopefullyThree wins a row now. Let’s hope they have a blip soon…
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This is a good result for KeepHimInTheJob brigade. We can’t afford too many defeats in a row. Needs some breathing space before they go again.
I have a feeling things will start clicking for them as the season finishes up. I don’t think it helps their progress when you buy that many players, resulting in trying to work out how best to fit them in as competitive games are played.
In fairness the way they have done it any manager would struggle to integrate it into a functional team, let alone one who came mid season.
One game at a time. It’s looking nice though.Three wins a row now. Let’s hope they have a blip soon…
Title winning form in the last 3 games. Haha
They should really aim to get on a roll and beat Arse, Citeh and Liverpool. Then they should focus on the CL and lose to us 5-0.
Ok we will set up an account with the officials, off the books of course, with undisclosed payments to ensure this happens.
Wouldn't mind if he has a minor blip in our next game though...
Kinda wish you still had Lampard, not gonna lie
I am way more confident going into games now than I was a week ago though.
bright, young, talented, english manger wins three games in a row, including a champions league knockout game, and people want him sacked. however a foreign, distinctly balder manager, the hipster’s choice, takes one win, a draw and a heavy loss to a rival from three games, and he needs more time. just the sort of typical xenophobia a good, honest englishman has to put up with on an almost hourly basis.
And Mason Mount didn't feature in any. Look better without him.Three wins a row now. Let’s hope they have a blip soon…
Was this the same KeepHimInTheJob brigade that were backing Arteta the previous couple of years too?
I was part of the Arteta one and am also part of the Potter one
think hes off this summer. Along with CHO
Yes the brigade that was opposite to Arsenal fans themselves who were ArtetaOut.
There is no arguing with that, he seems to make all our other players a bit depressed on the pitch.
Mason needs to sort out his personal issues before starting another game.
if he survives until the summer will they spunk another 500m with him for next season?
We might not be the best finishers but under Potter defensively we have been very good. Now if we start converting this XG into actual goals we might start to look good again.Tweet
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Leeds seem to be up there as well & they're in relegation zone. Is this an indicator of anything at all?
As with all stats it’s worthless without context. Pressing is just one aspect of defending. In regards to your point:
We have the 4th best defense in the league for goals conceded, 9th for XGa. They have the 17th best defense in the league and are 15th for XGa.
As I said in my previous post, if we can begin to score then we will look like a strong team again. We are 10th in the table, 10th for XG and 10th for Xpoints and that’s not good enough. But stats don’t lie.
A real comparison would be to your team as opposed to Leeds. From the chart you are the 11th best pressers in the league, which is underwhelming but nothing the majority of your fans haven’t already recognized on here. 6th for Xg, 7th for XGa and 4th for Xpoints. You are currently 3rd, 6th top scorers with 10th best defense (distorted by Liverpool game). Stats are more or less spot on again.
Ultimately we have both got room to improve you have scored significantly less than those around you and reality is that you don’t need stats to prove that we have been really shit this season. I just want to highlight some positivity amongst the many negative posts on here.
Probably not a direct indicator of anything by itself but it's a decent shout when you combine that statistic with the fact that unlike Leeds our defense is actually working and our goals conceded record is among the best in the league in the time that Potter's been at the club. The defensive side of the game is already good, just need to get the attack to click and we're set.
And Leeds being up there in pressure statistics is probably just a remnant of Bielsa's time at the club than anything else, they're shite but at least they still work hard. Recovering the ball quickly with an organized team pressure matters feck all if you lose the ball straight away yourself too, but the better teams can recover the ball quickly and start building an attack of their own.
Music to my ears.
My biggest concern with him is he didn't seem to be grasping the jump in expectation level (ala Moyes and Roy at United and Liverpool respectively), I've been noticing a change of tone in recent weeks and I'm cautiously optimistic the penny is dropping.
That clip will age like milk.
Yeah I hear you. It was more the swearing that almost felt out of place. He seemed almost surprised by it himself
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Poor old Ten Hag getting a pittance.
I think they made a mistake not including him… He is most likely on 11/12 M according to last summer’s reports. And there are some more missing on that list. Pioli, Spalletti and Rodgers are all making close to 10 M as well.