Chelsea manager Graham Potter has admitted his mental health and family life have suffered due to his team’s disappointing form in recent weeks
The Blues have won just two Premier League games since the World Cup in Qatar and been dumped out of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. Their Champions League dream also hangs in the balance after a 1-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Potter is facing calls to be sacked – just five months after he succeeded Thomas Tuchel as manager. Chelsea chair Todd Boehly is sticking by Potter – for now – but the Englishman is still finding life tough. The Blues have scored just four league goals in 2023.
Potter made his honest admission during his pre-match press conference on Friday. The Blues are 10th in the Premier League table – 11 points behind Tottenham in fourth with a game in hand. The two sides meet at Tottenham on Sunday afternoon.
“With the results as they are, you accept criticism,” said Potter. “That should come. That’s fair. The mood here has always been positive and respectful. That’s not to say it’s easy at all. Your family life suffers, your mental health suffers, your personality – it is hard.”
Potter has told Chelsea fans they are “entitled to be angry” about the team’s poor form. Their most recent defeat was perhaps the toughest to take, as they lost 1-0 at home to bottom club Southampton. The Saints did not even have a permanent manager at the time.
Potter added: “Supporters care, when they are upset they let their feelings be known and we accept that. There’s nothing I can say that will make the supporters if they are against us with us. The solution is that you have to win football matches.”
Chelsea have been the biggest spenders in Europe since Boehly’s consortium completed a takeover last summer – investing more than £500million into the squad. Arrivals include Mykhaylo Mudryk, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Chelsea signed Enzo Fernandez from Benfica at the 11th hour of the January transfer window. The Blues played a British-record transfer fee of £106.7m to bring the Argentina international, who was won the Young Player of the Tournament ward at the World Cup, to London.
“Those signings have lumped more pressure on Potter’s shoulders, but he insists the board are right behind him. “I have spoken to them [the board],” added the Chelsea boss. “It’s the same as it has always been. There has always been support.
“They also see where we are at and at the same time are frustrated because the results are where we are and we have to do better.”
Potter will need to pick up results sooner rather than later if he is to stay in a job. Chelsea face Leeds, Leicester and Everton in March, while the second leg of their Champions League clash with Dortmund at Stamford Bridge is penciled in for March 7.