The manager is unaware of his best group of players.
Any head coach who constantly makes adjustments to an underperforming team in search of a winning formula is frequently criticized for doing so.
Graham Potter, the manager of Chelsea, is going to hear it a lot unless his team goes on a winning streak and moves up the Premier League standings. Chelsea are armed with a swelling squad of expensive players.
There were rumblings of it following Chelsea’s dreary 0-0 draw with Fulham on Friday, which featured five of their new acquisitions from the over £300 million January shopping binge that the club’s new owners approved.
With the addition of 17 new players to Stamford Bridge over the course of two transfer windows, that expenditure was followed by nearly the same quantity being spent in the summer.
However, they could only produce three shots on goal and no goals in their first league game after the transfer window closed.
It’s a team for the present and the future, Potter stated in response to a question regarding his player search.
Potter must, however, hope that Todd Boehly and the new ownership group will be less snappish than their infamously impatient predecessor at Stamford Bridge following such a huge spend.
“Potter doesn’t use the same starting XI for every match”
The first-choice XI practically rolls off the tongue when thinking of several of the Premier League’s top teams, including Manchester United in 1999, Arsenal’s Invincibles in 2004, and Liverpool’s peak Klopp years.
Right, continuity breeds consistency
Is having the best team actually possible, considering Chelsea’s wealth and the volume of competitive games in the current era?
Manchester City has consistently demonstrated that changing the starting lineup may result in resounding success. Additionally, Liverpool’s recent reliance on a small core of players—with so many of their key players appearing worn out—could be a factor in their season-long downfall.
The former Chelsea forward Pat Nevin believes that selecting the best team is very simplistic. “Unless you had a team that is so reliable and stable, you would never start the same lineup each time.
“The team you choose for a Champions League away game will be significantly different from the one you field at home against a team in the bottom half of the standings.
Additionally, Potter is known for frequently switching out players and playing methods.
Is Chelsea’s policy of spending enormous quantities of money on the brightest young talents in the world the best course of action, especially considering that they have dispersed the eye-watering price over lucrative long-term deals?
Nevin says, “It’s massively high risk. “Some will fail if you sign young, inexperienced players to eight-year contracts.
But if they do it correctly, it’s a great way to go about it, and I imagine their fans would enjoy watching them.
Who plays for Chelsea’s best eleven?
Potter has the difficult job of keeping peace in a locker room full of talented football players and egotistical individuals. Nevin claims that it is a dance that goes with the territory.
He responds, “That’s what he gets paid a lot of money for. “It’s the biggest first-world issue you will ever encounter. That should be seen as an opportunity for you rather than a drawback.”
So who would make Nevin’s first-choice Chelsea team, assuming everyone is healthy?
I believe it will alter week to week, but let’s think about who ought to play, he remarked.
“If everyone is fully healthy, N’Golo Kante would be the first choice, but I think that’s a very large “if.” With Enzo Fernandez, he would play.
“I believe that Mykhailo Mudryk and Joao Felix must be played. They can switch roles, and Mason Mount must then participate.
“For the time being, I’d place Kai Havertz up front, but I believe he will drop into a deeper position and be one of the attacking three.”
Benoit Badashile, the new center back, also appeals to Nevin, despite the fact that he would not have been able to make Chelsea’s new Champions League roster.
He responded, “They are very short in defense.” He has been outstanding in his first few games, and I predict that in about a year, he will be playing with Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana in a back three.
Who will be left out, though?
Nevin emphasizes, “I must stress that this does not imply that everyone else is garbage. “It depends on the opponent you are up against.
“Raheem Sterling will play in a lot of games that are made for him, for instance. It’s never cut and dry.”
Sterling, a 27-year-old multiple title winner acquired from champions Manchester City who seemed destined to lead Chelsea’s revolution, was the club’s marquee acquisition last summer.
Boehly probably wasn’t thinking of one goal and one assist since August when he approved a £50 million purchase.
Although he has a distinguished career, Pep Guardiola’s squad roulette at Manchester City may prevent him from having a similar experience in west London.
The excesses of January cast a shadowy hue across the window to summer. After Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger left, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella both moved in for substantial sums of money, but they are no longer assured to start.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is another. He was acquired by Thomas Tuchel, Potter’s predecessor, to fill in a gap in the team’s jigsaw puzzle, but it’s evident that he doesn’t match the plan to bring in young, hungry players, and he’s nowhere to be seen in Chelsea’s starting lineup.
Nevin, though, had a more favorable opinion of previous summer.
In retrospect, he remarked, “they just wanted bodies.” “They had to bring in one center back after losing two.
“Some people refer to it as panic buying, but I believe it was security buying that was not a part of a larger plan.
That is the one we are currently seeing.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/
