As the Thomas Tuchel era at Chelsea Football Club ended this past week, Graham Potter took the helm, hoping to change the club’s trajectory following a slow start to the campaign. Caden Charpentier chooses the best Blues from inside Stamford Bridge.
A 1-0 loss on the road against GNK Dinamo Zagreb, in what would end up being Tuchel’s final match in charge, made the job a difficult one for Potter. A new head coach still trying to get his feet wet at a club he just arrived at a few days ago.
With a much calmer demeanor on the sideline compared to his predecessor, Potter chose to make a few changes to how the Blues lined up. A stable three in the back was present as the game unfolded while Jorginho featured as CFC’s prominent holding player with Mason Mount, and Mateo Kovacic paired alongside each other slightly higher up the pitch. Reece James flew up the flank on the right-hand side with Raheem Sterling playing on the opposite side much higher up the pitch.
Potter consistently plays an extremely fluid formation that changes throughout the game, and with this long break, the Blues have plenty of time to tinker with some of the question marks coming out of his first match. Despite a disappointing draw putting Chels’ in a challenging position to advance to the knockout stage, there were a few players that pieced together quality outings that Potter can be encouraged about going forward.