Chelsea are now in a pretty unique period by the standards of modern football.
Due to a concatenation of circumstances, the Blues will play just one game between the 7th September and the 1st October. Given the incredible fixture rush that has seen us playing twice a week all season for two years pretty much, this is a very odd spell.
It has meant Graham Potter has the perfect chance to take charge though, with an exceptional amount of time on the training pitch with his squad.
A lot of them will go away later in the month for the international break, but even they will have had a solid two weeks of training with their new coach by the time that comes around.
The players who aren’t heading off with their national teams – and that includes a lot of really talented first team players and youngsters – will get a truly exceptional amount of time with Potter to impress him and absorb his principles.
It really couldn’t have been planned any better, and for a manager like Potter it might just give him the chance to succeed at a cut throat club like Chelsea where patience is always short, no matter who appointed you. He needs every advantage he can get. He’s got credit in the bank as he was appointed by our new owners, but as Thomas Tuchel showed, even a cast amount of credit can be eroded very quickly.
Chelsea latest results haven’t been great – and they were bad enough to get a top manager like Tuchel sacked, despite the claims that that decision wasn’t directly related to performances. The draw last Wednesday makes our position in the Champions League group stage that much worse too.
But overall there are plenty of benefits to this setup, and certainly the new coach won’t have the excuse that most bosses appointed mid season have – that they’ve barely had a session on the training ground or in the meeting rooms with their new squad, as they’re shuttled from stadium to recovery session from October to March with barely a full day of work at Cobham in between.
The price they will pay is down the line, when they have to squeeze these two league games they’ve missed back in, after a tiring World Cup which will disproportionately affect teams like Chelsea, who have a lot of players involved.
But that’s a problem for future Chelsea and future Potter – right now he just needs some time with the players, and some wins on the board.
