Potter explains Mount half-time substitution, takes no credit for Aubameyang form

It took Mason Mount just 45 minutes to leave his mark on great city of Milano, at which point he took a seat on the bench, kicked his feet up, and opened a beverage of his choice to enjoy during the second half of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over AC Milan. It was probably some sort of sports drink.

Head coach Graham Potter confirmed afterwards that Mount’s early exit from the gladiatorial arena indeed did not have any deeper meaning other than to save the legs of our in-form talisman — and to ensure that the card-happy referee didn’t choose to level things out by way of the 23-year-old.

“He was on a yellow card and he’s played a lot of football so at half-time we gave him a breather. He was fantastic. He was a constant threat. I’ve been really pleased with him from the start. He’s a really important player.”

-Graham Potter; source: Metro

Mount hasn’t been the only player finding his feet in the past couple weeks, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang notching a goal for his third successive start yesterday as well. The 33-year-old striker has shown some very welcome clinical finishing during that run, and while it’s probably still too early to declare the Curse broken, it’s not something that Potter’s looking to take credit for.

“We’ve not done anything special, it’s all down to him. [...] it’s been a case of building up his match minutes up and the more he gets the stronger he gets, and the more we understand him the more he understands us. Everyone knows his quality and it’s great for him. He looks like he is enjoying his football and scoring goals is important.”

-Graham Potter; source: Metro

Goals win games, and so does scoring them. As long as Auba keeps scoring, we will all be enjoying the football.