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Six weeks and six games into his tenure at Chelsea, Graham Potter has yet to taste defeat, and has in fact accomplished something we haven’t see since the last time we actually won the title. The current four-match clean sheet streak is our longest since December 2016 and Antonio Conte’s historic run on our way to the Premier League trophy.
Potter has started dropping one of Conte’s favorite words into his press conferences as well — hello there, “suffering” — though the similarities in approach mostly stop there. That said, Potter, like Conte, is laying his foundations with solid defending and team spirit, and that, as we know, can go a long way when combined with the individual skill present throughout the squad.
“Naturally I’m not the most optimistic [and] you can’t predict anything but it’s gone fantastically well in terms of results, I can’t complain with that at all. But the way the group has responded, the way we feel in the team is really positive. But it’s only six weeks – feels like six months sometimes – but we have a long way to go and keep moving.”
“[The clean sheets are] pleasing and credit to the players, credit to the group. You can’t defend with a settled four or five these days because the games are relentless. The challenges are huge in that regard. It’s about the team and the togetherness of the squad.
“If you’re prepared to suffer and deal with discomfort in the games then you give yourself a chance to keep a clean sheet and that gives you a chance to win, certainly with the quality we have.”
-Graham Potter; source: Football.London
Potter’s Chelsea will probably lose a game eventually, and that will then provide another key test in how we respond. But that doesn’t mean we should be in a hurry to find out...
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