Izuchukwu Okosi
Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola on Sunday backed embattled Chelsea manager Graham Potter to revive the fortune of the west London side.
The Blues were beaten 4-0 by City, the second time in four days but Guardiola, who praised Potter when he was at Brighton, urged Chelsea to stick with their man.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“I would say to Todd Boehly, give him time,” Guardiola said at his post match news conference.
“I know in big clubs, results are important but I’d say give him time.
“The second half is what he is. What he’s done at Brighton is outstanding, but…we need time in the first season. I had (Lionel) Messi in Barcelona my first season so I didn’t need two seasons because Messi was there.”
Chelsea did not manage a shot in a first half Potter described as “painful”, failing to even vaguely threaten Stefan Ortega’s goal until a Mason Mount shot in the 54th minute which was deflected wide.
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He could point to an ongoing injury crisis which kept nine players out of this fixture and led to teenager Bashir Humphreys making his senior debut in defence, but Potter accepted Chelsea fans needed to see more.
“The results in a small space of time are not positive,” he said. “You can make excuses and look for reasons or say it isn’t good enough. Both of those answers are correct.
“We have to keep improving and stick together because clearly we are suffering as a football club and it’s not nice at all. But that’s where we are at the moment.
“We can’t do anything apart from do our jobs better and work harder. You understand the supporters’ frustration, we respect that. But our job is to do our job and keep working.”
At least Chelsea are not due to face City again until they return here in the league in May.
“This opponent is probably the worst opponent you can play when things aren’t going very well because they can make you look like you’re not running or not trying because their positional structure is brilliant,” Potter added.
Following Chelsea’s poor run of form, there are already calls by some sections of the fanbase asking for the immediate sack of the coach.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
