Graham Potter is in a unique and interesting situation when it comes to Chelsea.
He’s been on the inside of this current project, so he knows more than most about what’s going on. Now he’s clearly reached the end of whatever NDA he signed when he was sacked, he can also speak pretty freely about the whole situation.
What adds a layer of interest is that Potter has had a similar experience to Maresca in terms of building a really impressive passing team in the Championship and getting a Premier League job where he had to adapt to better players, but in a totally different situation.
Potter figured out that challenge at Brighton – and that’s what led to him getting the job at Chelsea. Now Maresca is making a similar strong impression at Chelsea:
“He has done well, you can see what he’s trying to do. There’s a couple of build up changes he makes game by game as to who goes alongside Caicedo, whether they push a full-back in-field or they keep it as they are, which I think probably suits them better,” Potter said of Maresca’s impact on PLP’s coverage of today’s game.
His interesting thoughts on the manager’s midfield setup continued:
“With two midfield players, sort of keeps the stability in the build up. But I think overall, he’s done really well. The European competition probably helped him in terms of making sure the players have got game time. So everyone’s sort of competing together. But overall, I think he started really well.”
Potter knows Enzo struggle better than most
Potter’s thoughts on our midfield are interesting, and he also politely leaves out the fact that Maresca’s decision to play that pair leaves out Enzo Fernandez, a player Potter was the first Chelsea coach to have to wrestle with in terms of finding a place in the team.
