CHELSEA chiefs have reportedly held a “crisis meeting” with manager Graham Potter in an attempt to arrest the team’s poor form.
The Blues have won just two of their 11 matches in all competitions since returning from the World Cup break.
After the weekend’s 1-0 home defeat to bottom of the table Southampton left Chelsea winless in five games, fans strengthened their calls for Potter to be sacked.
And, having spend more than £600million players since the summer, reports suggest Stamford Bridge bosses are getting restless too.
According to the Evening Standard, technical director Christopher Vivell has held talks with the head coach and his staff this week.
The “strategy meeting” took place at their Cobham training ground, with directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart also in attendance.
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Owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are understood to have NOT been present at the talks.
It is said the various Chelsea bosses put on a “united front” with the purpose of the meeting to address issues and boost morale.
The Blues are expected to give Potter time to try and arrest the slump.
The shock loss to Southampton left them 10th in the Premier League, 11 points adrift of the top four.
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And a London derby loss to Tottenham this weekend would pile even more pressure on the Chelsea boss.
Yet, despite the disappointing run of results, Gary Neville has called for Blues fans to stick with their head coach.
He told the Gary Neville Podcast: “Potter is under massive pressure. You can see it in his face. The chances they missed in the second half and the boos at the end of the game felt a little ominous.
“I think they’ll want to do the right thing, the Chelsea owners.
“They’ve sacked a manager very early in the season in Thomas Tuchel, they’ve owned their new manager, they’ve brought recruitment assistants in alongside him, so they’ve invested heavily in Graham and his team.
“But they have to hold their nerve if they want to see it through.
“But I suspect that nerve is being tested, as any owner’s would be when you’ve spent that level of money and you’re losing games at home to the (side) bottom of the league.
“He’s a fantastic coach but you feel watching Potter he’s a measured man.
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“He’s a good coach, [but] you get the idea he’d like to build a pattern of play with a group of players on a consistent basis and he’s got 33 of them staring at him down the barrel saying ‘play me’.
“And these aren’t junior players, they’re senior internationals and I can’t imagine what it must be like to have 33 players.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
