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After Chelsea's loss to Southampton, Potter said the club's bad form is not entirely down to him. Does he have a leg to stand on?
Chelsea manager Graham Potter has suggested that he is not Chelsea’s problem amidst their current slump, although he has admitted that he understands why most people will label him the reason for the club’s current struggle and you know what? He might have a point.
Potter says Chelsea's slump is not his fault
Chelsea lost for the second time in a week after going down 1-0 to bottom-of-the-table Southampton, bringing their current winless run to five matches, and leaving them with only two wins and five losses in their last 10 matches.
This latest blow leaves Chelsea in 10th place and with virtually no chance of making the UEFA Champions League spots for next season.
Their recent form also leaves them on the brink of being eliminated from this year’s Champions League after they lost to Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their round of 16 tie.
Yet, Potter maintains that he believes that he is not solely responsible for the club’s fortunes. After Chelsea’s loss to Southampton, he had this to say:
"After a 1-0 defeat at home, any criticism you get is understandable. When you don't get results, it can be tough. That's how it is.
“Some people will think I'm the problem. I don't think they're right but that doesn't mean they can't articulate their views.”
Chelsea forwards misfiring at an alarming rate
Regardless of how it looks, Potter might have a point about Chelsea’s struggles not being totally dependent on him.
Chelsea have one main problem currently and it lies in their misfiring forward line which has produced only one goal in their run of five games without a victory, despite Chelsea often creating better goal-scoring chances than their opponents.
Chelsea have outperformed their opponents on expected goals on four of the last five occasions, but have lost two of those games and drawn three.
In that period, they have scored one goal and conceded three. Moving the scales back to include other matches paints a similar picture of Chelsea’s underperforming goal scorers.
In the last 14 matches in all competitions, Chelsea have accumulated 17.91 expected goals, but have only scored six goals in that period, meaning that they have scored 11 fewer goals than the average team should have in that period.
Even the best coaching would suffer from players underperforming at this level, but while Potter would want you to cut him some slack, he still has to take some responsibility for persisting with the underperforming forwards.
Kai Havertz in particular has continued to get chances despite his poor form and despite Potter resting him against Southampton, he is still seen as Chelsea’s first-choice centre forward, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cannot get a place in the matchday squad.
Aubameyang is not perfect and has his limitations, but it is unlikely that he will be as blunt as Havertz has been in recent games.
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