Graham Potter’s Magic Could Be Just What Chelsea Need

Just days after spending a fortune on new players, Chelsea have sacked head coach Thomas Tuchel. Now they are searching for a replacement, and Brighton and Hove Albion’s Graham Potter is among the favorites for the job.

Often when head coaches of mid-table clubs do well and get linked to top jobs, their critics claim that the tactics used by those coaches wouldn’t translate to a club challenging for the title.

Sean Dyche, for example, helped Burnley punch above their weight for years in the Premier League, but was often typecast as a one-dimensional manager who can only play long-ball soccer. Dyche has said that the type of soccer his Burnley side played was a result of the team’s budget rather than his preferences, but he won’t get a top job without proving this on the pitch.

Potter, on the other hand, has shown he is tactically flexible. His Brighton side last season used more formations than any other side last season, deploying 13 different systems and switching between a back three and a back four on a game-to-game basis. They also played a style that was easy on the eye, with similar possession stats to Chelsea.

Brighton weren’t always this way; when Potter took over, they used a low block and counterattack system, but within the space of a season, Potter had Brighton pressing high up the pitch and had the seventh most possession of any team in the league. He’ll have to work faster at Chelsea, but compared to the Brighton side he inherited, he’ll already be working with a team that’s not too far off how he will want them to play.

Potter’s stock is sky-high following Brighton’s strong start to the season, winning four of their first six matches. But Brighton have been punching above their weight ever since Potter took over.

Their current squad cost less to assemble than any other Premier League side bar Brentford, and when viewed through the lens of expected goals, their performances are even better than their league finishes. In 2020/21, they had the league’s fifth highest points based on expected goals. Over the past two seasons, they’ve also managed to beat all of the “Big Six” apart from Chelsea at least once.

Critics point out that some of Brighton’s long winless streaks, like their 12-match run without a victory early last season, would not be tolerated at Chelsea, but it’s a lot easier to avoid winless streaks with Chelsea’s players than it is with Brighton’s.

Could Potter succeed at Chelsea in the same way as he has at Brighton? Unlike most of Chelsea’s recent coaches, he has never managed a “big” club, and his only experience of European competition comes from his spell in rural Sweden, where he took Ostersunds on a fairytale run to the knockout rounds of the Europa League.

Not many managers make a successful jump from mid-table Premier League sides to the very top teams in the league, but Mauricio Pochettino’s move from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur proves it can be done.

One of Potter’s strongest attributes, developing players like Marc Cucurella and Ben White into top class players, is hardly needed at a club willing to spend a seemingly limitless amount on ready-made players, only to discard them if they don’t work out immediately.

Potter’s success at Brighton also comes from having a strong team and structure behind him, not to mention a chairman who appears to be on the same page. Chelsea on the other hand, are one of only two Premier League clubs not to have a director of football, and are known for their trigger-happy approach to changing head coaches.

Tuchel’s sacking only six games into the Premier League season suggests that new owner Todd Boehly is following on from the ways of former owner Roman Abramovich. But what if that’s not the case? What if Boehly actually wants a long-term manager to work with young players so that future transfer windows don’t look like the most recent one, and what if Boehly has decided Potter is more suited to that role than Tuchel? After all, among the $280 million spent this summer are the likes of Carney Chukwuemeka, who is not the typical type of Chelsea signing, and Wesley Fofana, who could be at the heart of Chelsea’s defense for the next ten years.

But even if Boehly turns out to be Abramovich Mk. II, turning down Chelsea would still be more of a risk than taking the job.

Should Potter fail at Chelsea, it will likely be seen as a result of his surroundings rather than his ability. If he succeeds, he has the chance to win trophies and accolades. Chelsea might have a habit of sacking head coaches, but recent head coaches have gone on to get the top jobs at the likes of Manchester United, Juventus and Inter Milan directly after their stint at Stamford Bridge.

While Brighton are more patient than most, should they stagnate under Potter, they will replace him. Some fans were even booing Potter last season after a bad result against Leeds United.

Like Potter, Eddie Howe also achieved incredible things on the south coast with Bournemouth, taking them from the foot of the football league to the top half of the Premier League, and was linked to the likes of Arsenal, but when results went sour, even he lost his job.

Without a decorated playing career, Potter had to start at the bottom, in the Swedish fourth tier for a club who were getting less than a thousand fans turning up to their games. Now, just over a decade later, he might have a chance to manage at the very top.