MY ACCOUNT
Whichever way you look at it, Graham Potter is a man under pressure.
The Chelsea boss appeared helpless on the touchline as Southampton picked up a shock 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday — resulting in a chorus of boos ringing down from the stands.
While the club appear set to stand by their under-fire 47-year-old coach, a record of nine wins in 25 games in charge is cause for concern.
To make matters worse, his 36% win rate with the Blues is the lowest since previous owner Roman Abramovich took charge in 2003.
Here, we take a look at Potter’s record in detail as the vultures circle in West London.
The struggle is real
Potter was unbeaten in his first nine games in charge, winning six, including a run of five in a row against Crystal Palace, AC Milan (twice), Wolves and Aston Villa.
Defeat to former club Brighton was the first of four in a five-game sequence broken only by a 2-1 Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb.
One of those came against Manchester City, who knocked Potter’s side out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup this season.
A 4-0 rout in the latter immediately followed City’s 1-0 win in the Premier League meeting between the sides as Chelsea’s current run of one win — against Palace — in 10 games gathered pace.
That sequence also includes a loss and a draw against local rivals Fulham, further draws with Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and West Ham and defeats to Borussia Dortmund and Southampton.
The Blues have not won away from Stamford Bridge since last October, with three draws and six losses.
And that run includes conceding four goals in a game to both City and Brighton while only scoring that many in total across the nine games.
In all, Potter has won nine, drawn seven and lost nine of his 25 games in charge, with his team scoring 25 goals and conceding 24.
His win percentage is significantly lower than the 47.5% recorded by Andre Villas-Boas — the lowest of any of the 13 managers employed by Abramovich before his departure.
Club comparison
That record, admittedly in a relatively small statistical sample, also means Potter has lost a greater percentage of games in charge of Chelsea than he did with Brighton.
The Seagulls are three places and four points ahead of Chelsea in seventh in the table.
And while their fast start under Potter had them above the Blues before he was appointed as Thomas Tuchel’s successor, that is surely not what Todd Boehly and his hierarchy were anticipating.
Potter’s Seagulls lost 48 out of 140 games in all competitions, or 34.3%.
His Chelsea win percentage is higher — 36 to 32.1 — with his Brighton side proving tougher to beat as they drew their other 47 games (33.6%).
His one season with Swansea came in the Championship where, despite finishing only 10th and missing out on the play-offs, they had a 41.2% win rate — the best of Potter’s career in England.
He previously made his name with Swedish side Ostersund, winning more than half his games in charge (127 of 249, equating to 51%) as he took them from the fourth tier to the top flight, a cup win and the last 32 of the Europa League.
