03 March 2023 , 22:30
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Graham Potter has admitted he needs to get his “message across better” before two crunch home games for Chelsea.
But the beleaguered Blues boss, who claimed his players had to also improve, insisted: “There’s a feeling that it’s close”. The ex-Brighton boss needs quick results after a horror run of two wins in 15 games - and no goal at Stamford Bridge since January 15 - before hosting Leeds on Saturday and Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
Two more defeats will test the patience of even the owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. Potter insisted he still had the backing of the owners, who were again at their Cobham training ground yesterday, and the dressing room.
But his brand of carefully-constructed possession football has yielded only one goal in their last six winless matches. And mental frailties have seen them lose in the last nine games where they have fallen behind.
Potter, who acknowledged his team were in a “bad moment”, said: “You’re always looking at how you are working, your process, your messaging and how you can improve it. It’s quite easy when things aren’t going well to blame somebody else but the reality of it is it starts with me and I look at how I can improve my communication to the players, how I can improve as a coach, how we can improve the messaging and how we can improve everything. That’s what you’re fighting for.
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“When you’ve had the results we have had clearly it (your message) is not perfect otherwise you would have better results. Clearly it is a process of how to get our message across better. How can we structure things in a way to help the players because that is what we are here for.
Graham Potter thinks the end of Chelsea's woes are right around the corner (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)“When results aren’t good, from my point of view you have to accept that we haven’t done it well enough. Now that’s the reality we are in and I am sure the players will take responsibility and admit they can do better as well.
“We are in it together. “I feel the support of the players, I feel the support of everyone here. The results haven’t been good but we are still there fighting for each other. They want to do better, they do. There’s a feeling that it’s close. A feeling that we can take some steps but talk is one thing, we have to show it on the pitch, we have to see it on the pitch.
Potter will have to shuffle his large pack of 31 players with defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva out while Reece James is a doubt with a tight hamstring.
The former Osterlunds and Swansea head coach insisted he has come through tough times in his career before and added: “I think in this type of job you have to win, which we are not doing as well as we need to, but you also have to handle it when it is not going so well because otherwise the place burns down and you don’t get the chance to get the results.”