Joe Cole believes Graham Potter should be given time to succeed at Chelsea despite the club’s ongoing poor form in the Premier League.
Potter is yet to see a marked improvement in his side’s fortunes following their £300m+ spend during the January transfer window. The Blues drew 1-1 with West Ham over the weekend.
Chelsea struggled after the interval against the Hammers despite a promising start that saw Joao Felix score his first goal for the club.
With eight new signings having joined during the window, there is clearly a rebuilding job to be done by Potter and his staff, with a lack of consistency and cutting edge a mark of the depth of the task at hand for the manager.
Chelsea face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday, and former Blues midfielder Cole thinks that, with so much change on and off the pitch, moulding a coherent culture among the squad is key.
“People get caught up in saying he needs to get to the semi-final or he needs to finish fourth,” Cole told the PA news agency. “I think the club’s gone through such a changeover, from the owners to the manager to the players and staff. You just need someone to settle the thing down. I think Graham Potter is the man for that.
“Come May, regardless of where Chelsea are in the league, or how well they’ve done in the Champions League, there needs to be signs of some sort of culture forming. Graham Potter needs to stamp his authority on the team.
“You find a lot out about managers when they go through difficult times. Chelsea finishing ninth in the league would be a difficult time for the club, because the expectation is high. I think he’s handled everything well. But it’ll be time that tells how well. I hope he gets given that time.”
Chelsea’s huge £315million January transfer outlay has drawn scrutiny of owner Todd Boehly’s running of the club, particularly given the team’s rapidly diminishing hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League via their league placing.
Failure to finish in the top four could have ramifications for the club’s hopes of satisfying UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, unless Potter can mastermind a surprise third Champions League title for the Blues.
Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali consider the restructuring of the squad to be largely complete following January’s assault on the market, and Cole is confident that the pair will be prepared for the worst-case scenario should the team fail to…
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