Manager number 11 and 12 departed at the weekend meaning that 60% of Premier League clubs have lost their managers this season. The big news was the sacking of Graham Potter from Chelsea, in part because of the size and ambition of the club and in part because Potter was told time and again that he wouldn't be getting the sack and that by signing a 5 year contract the club had long term ambitions for him. We were told that even when form had hit a wall that Potter would not be replaced swiftly like the former owner of Chelsea Roman Abramovich, and anyone who believed that were quite frankly naive. Businessmen especially at this level are ruthless and Todd Boehly is no exception. Potter was never going to get the time to have a proper summer transfer window and there was no way that Boehly and the stakeholders were going to put up with their club in 11th place with two months left of the season.
Football can be ruthless but it was absolutely the right decision to sack Potter, he should never have got the job because Thomas Tuchel should have never been sacked. Granted there were behind the scenes situations which led to Tuchel's sacking and this wasn't really about his quality as a manager but Chelsea had a knee jerk reaction and should have seen out that storm. It may be easy to say in hindsight but it shouldn't looking at Tuchel's resume. As for Potter he leaves with a win rate of just 38% and while some of his team selections were a head scratcher in his last few days he isn't completely to blame for what has happened. There are egos in that dressing room and most of the players would not know who Potter is, that may seem brutal but at the end of the day international stars want to be managed by someone who has won trophies and has some clout, Potter has neither. He comes across as a good well natured man in a harsh business driven sport, despite that with the right club Potter will flourish once again and he will be able to put this whole episode behind him. One could argue that perhaps he shouldn't have taken the job when he had such a good thing at Brighton, but how many would turn down such an opportunity and it wasn't just the money, Potter has 20 years of football management ahead of him. This was about managing a club with deep pockets and getting to participate in the Champions League, the pull would have been too much but like Frank Lampard before him ultimately Potter did make the mistake in making the switch.
Next Chelsea manager: Julian Nagelsmann 1.66, Luis Enrique 5.00, Bruno Saltor 9.00, Mauricio Pochettino 13.00, Zinedine Zidane 20.00
The official line over at Leicester is that Brendan Rodgers left by mutual consent and wasn't officially summoned and sacked. If this is the case then it seems Rodgers has made a huge error. In truth he hasn't looked well for the past few months and the job seems to have taken quite a toll on him, it is unfortunate given that he took the Foxes to two top 5 finishes and an FA Cup win. However if it was his decision to leave the timing does not look great with less than two months of the season to go. It may have been better had he made it before the international break to give the Foxes some time to find a new manager but now they could well be a club lost at sea and with a few more defeats they have a real chance of being relegated only seven years after winning the Premier League and perhaps that was the real problem, Rodgers didn't want to be the person that overseen that.
Next Leicester manager: Rafa Benitez 5.00, Graham Potter 5.00, Jon Dahl Tomasson 10.00, Ralph Hasenhuttl 12.00, Adam Sadler 15.00
Chelsea and Liverpool have played out yet another 0-0 result and that means that their last four meetings have ended in this same score line. The two clubs deserve one another and pound for pound when you consider the players they have and the budgets they are the two worst teams in the Premier League, under whelming would be putting it mildly. The teams are behind this time last season by some 20 points and neither will even qualify for the Champions League yet alone be in the hunt for a league title challenge. It is a huge fall for the clubs and while they could well bounce back next season could you imagine the fall out had Manchester City done the same this season? The media have been relatively kind to both clubs but by their standards both have been poor for the majority of the season. Both have the financial clout to be back in the mix next season although it will be fascinating to see how that develops.
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