TalkSPORT pundit Gabriel Agbonlahor was baffled by Graham Potter‘s excuse of having to play a different team against Southampton on Saturday.
A defeat against an in-form Borussia Dortmund side on a Champions League knock-out stage is one thing, but a 1-0 loss to 20th-placed Southampton raises a lot of questions about Potter’s capability of leading this Chelsea side.
Potter has repeatedly clarified that he refuses to show his anger when talking to the media, so nobody really expected him to start pointing fingers or anything.
That said, his repetitive, optimistic comments about the situation while pointing out the lack of cohesion in the team due to the arrival of the new signings clearly do not satisfy a lot of people.
This is including Agbolahor who found such explanations even slightly irritating.
“He should be sacked for that post-match interview,” the former England forward told talkSPORT in response to Potter’s words after the game.
“‘I had to make some changes due to the Champions League… I had to bring different players in against a settled, organised side…’ What are you talking about?
“[Southampton] haven’t got a manager. You’re playing against a team in disarray who can’t get back-to-back wins together.
“And you complained that you had to bring [Mykhailo] Mudryk off the bench? You had to start [Joao] Felix? Are you joking me?”
Even those who believe in Potter’s long-term project at Chelsea would agree that this weekend’s defeat was unacceptable.
Potter himself said that the first-half performance, in particular, was “a step backwards”.
In fairness, Chelsea played better and were quite dominant in the second half. But at the same time, this team do not seem to be anywhere close to solving their poor goalscoring record.
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