Chelsea have been beaten by Southampton, another defeat on a mounting pile, and it feels like the whole club in on fire.
After full time, the NBC Sport crew asked former Everton keeper Tim Howard how he saw things going from here. He reckons it will go one of two ways – either Chelsea sack Potter, or they write off the season. It’s time to decide Todd, if you don’t go the former soon, the latter will become the case no matter who you appoint afterwards.
You can see his point in the clip embedded here:
"I think they go one of two ways, I think he gets sacked… Or their season just becomes a wash."@TimHowardGK on where Chelsea could go from here.#MyPLMorning | #CFC pic.twitter.com/eWEC1vYTEZ
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) February 18, 2023
No Chelsea supporter would want to admit it, but the season is already a near total loss. Sacking the manager at this point just creates more upheaval and reinforces a concerning, long-time trend at the club of disposing of the manager any time there is the slightest hint of trouble. I challenge folks calling for Potter’s head to look at the last ten years and try to argue that the carousel of 8 managers we’ve had in that time isn’t a major reason we’re this position (i.e., a rebuild). The constant shifting of tactical visions and formations and it’s effect on transfers made a mess of the squad and now, at long last, we’re paying for that mismanagement.
I really think this is a situation where you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t change the manager and this many players in less than six months and expect to be doing much better than middle of the table—especially when you’ve not bothered to acquire a proper #9! It’s like trying to change out an engine on a jumbo jet in mid-flight. At some some point, you just have to land the plane and accept that you’re going to be grounded until the work is completed. And sacking your maintenance crew is not going to see the job done any quicker!