When did we first get the sinking feeling about this season? For most fans, the answer would be the heavy defeat to Arsenal during our tour of the US.
In his press conference today, Graham Potter referenced the disastrous tour when asked about how hard it was to blend together a squad:
“There was a sub-optimal pre-season – and speaking to a few of the experienced guys, they thought it was the worst pre-season they’ve had for different reasons. That isn’t to blame anybody for the reasons. It’s just that it happened.”
Pressed for more details he added:
“”I don’t want to speak about that. It was more organisationally, for different reasons, the tour didn’t quite work as well as they’d have liked. I wasn’t there so I can’t say. That was one thing, then old players left, new players came in, a manager change, and I turn up in the middle of a Champions League Saturday-Tuesday schedule.”
What’s interesting is that this is a fresh excuse. We’ve heard the “not much time with the players,” the “injury crisis” and the “lots of new signings to bed in” plenty of times, but this idea of a botched preseason being the cause of our recent performances is new.
There’s no question the tour was a disaster, and probably played a big part in Thomas Tuchel’s departure, as well as some of the issues that have followed since.
But the idea that it’s the big reason behind our dreadful recent run of results is harder to swallow.
