Chelsea players have reportedly recognised a key change between the team talks delivered by Graham Potter and Thomas Tuchel.
According to The Athletic, members of the first-team have noted that Potter often takes a much softer approach when addressing them on match-days to his predecessor.
A key example of this is the FA Cup exit at the hands of Manchester City last weekend.
At half-time, with his side 3-0 down and already out of the competition, Potter apparently ‘opted to encourage’ the group, ‘in the hope of sparking a recovery’.
This optimistic speech must’ve fell on deaf ears, as Chelsea were arguably even worse after the break.
But the manager remained calm once the full-time whistle blew, as he stressed ‘the importance of sticking together’ to the crestfallen pack.
Graham Potter is certainly no Thomas Tuchel
Had Tuchel still been in charge, the dialogue at the interval would’ve been entirely different.
The German would’ve likely ripped in to the squad for such a soft performance.
Chelsea’s ex-coach has history of criticising his soldiers, both publicly and behind closed doors.
Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge last year sparked an outrage from Tuchel.
“It is a heavy loss. It was one of the worst first halves that I saw from us here at Stamford Bridge. At this level you cannot play like this. Individually and as a team it was by far not enough,” he said.
A similar stance was taken after the 2-1 loss to Southampton earlier this season.
“It is too easy to put us off balance, to beat us, to confuse us. It is too easy.”
Tuchel also reportedly fell out with several of his players, including Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku.
It’s also claimed he ‘lost 70 per cent’ of the dressing room towards the end of his tenure in the capital.
Whilst Potter is less likely to lose the squad in a personal basis, they might start to turn away if results continue to falter.
source: https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/
