What Graham Potter said about Chelsea’s performance against Liverpool

Chelsea did not win, or score, against Liverpool, but Graham Potter had good things to say about the performance, and he had reason to. He talked about the “energy, spirit and discipline” of the team.

These things were clear, and they weren’t things that could be said about the team some weeks ago. Chelsea looked far from disciplined in the FA Cup game against Manchester City, but the team has always showed energy. Energy without discipline is useless, as the Liverpool game showed.

Many fans left the Liverpool game somewhat happy, despite not winning. A clean sheet was reason to be happy, as Chelsea has not kept a clean sheet at Anfield in a while, so it was good to see.

The discipline and energy the team showed out of possession was also commendable. Chelsea also showed some interesting attacking patterns in the final third, with Hakim Ziyech creating two big chances and Chelsea creating four in total. These things aren’t flukes either, as Chelsea also created four big chances in the game before Liverpool too.

Graham Potter takes the right approach for Chelsea

Potter was also asked how he saw the second half of the season going, he emphasized the need to approach the season game by game, saying “we’ve got to focus on the next day’s training and the next match“.

This is the perfect approach, as Chelsea is so far from top four that thinking about anything other than the next game would bring unnecessary pressure, and pressure is not something Potter’s men need, especially with the addition of several new faces.

Chelsea fans can expect consistency in the lineup going forward, and that should bode well for the rest of the season. Potter hinted at this when asked whether he’d select lineups on a game by game basis or if he’d be more consistent. Potter mentioned the need to be stable, while also allowing for players to be added to the lineups as needed.

Mykhailo Mudryk’s debut also gave reason to be excited for the rest of the season. He was genuinely explosive when he came on. Things will only get better from here, as Mudryk spends more time with the team and on the pitch. All these, along with the performances of the last two games, mean that Chelsea fans can expect the team to start putting out more consistent performances and picking up considerably more points from here.

It’s not impossible for the Blues to make top four this season, but it will be difficult. There were many signs to show that if the Blues continue playing the way they played against Liverpool and Crystal Palace, there’d be a lot of excitement for the fans in the coming months indeed.