BBC pundit Alan Hutton has shared his thoughts on Chelsea manager Graham Potter and his current situation at the west London club.
After going through a period of disappointing results like losing at home to Southampton and away against Tottenham Hotspur, as well as losing to Borussia Dortmund in their first-leg round of 16 match in the Champions League, Potter has found himself under pressure in the dugout at Stamford Bridge.
With the second leg against Dortmund approaching followed by their next league match against Leicester City, one pundit has shared their thoughts about Potter and the state of affairs at the club.
Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton said this about Potter’s current stance at Chelsea and what the future should look like for him.
He said: “Graham Potter has been under immense pressure because of the amount of money they have spent intstantly. I still do not think that is going to work all the time. Just because you go and splash the cash on all these top players, they are not going to gel right away.
“He needs the rest of this season, wherever they finish it is something they are just going to have to take on the chin. Allow him to have pre-season, pick his strongest team, get everybody gelled together and see how it goes after 10 or 15 games of the new season.”
With 27 games under his belt in the Chelsea dugout, the Englishman has won 10, drawn seven and lost 10, highlighting the up and down nature of Potter’s time at Stamford Bridge.
In terms of Hutton’s point about the recent influx of new players at Chelsea, this has led to the west London club currently having the joint-second largest squad in the Premier League with 32 figures in their senior ranks.
Do you think Chelsea's board are right to back Graham Potter?
Yes
No
This highlights the hurdles that Potter has had to deal with during his time at the club, in addition to the difficulty of joining a side midway through a season.
Taking all of that into account, we agree with Hutton that if the Chelsea hierarchy are likely to continue backing the manager until the end of the season, giving him the summer period to trim the squad and get his strongest side playing how he wants could be the best way to set them up for next season and beyond.