“Graham Potter is the big one,” – Erik ten Hag leaves Chelsea guessing as Manchester United fears 27 years old Chelsea star revenge
News regarding Chelsea: On Saturday night in the Premier League, Graham Potter will have his toughest test as Chelsea’s head coach when Chelsea takes on a hot Manchester United team.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Given the stature of both teams over the last five years, Chelsea’s quest for a victory against Manchester United in the Premier League has lasted an absurdly long time.
The exact date when Alvaro Morata scored one of his few notable goals while wearing a Blue jersey to overcome Jose Mourinho’s United at Stamford Bridge will be early next month. At the time, Mason Mount had just started his first senior loan to Vitesse Arnhem, Timeout Bakayoko really seemed like a good acquisition to the Blues midfield, and Antonio Conte was in command.
Additionally, the two coaches who will share the same dugouts on Saturday night were in very different locations. Prior to being approached to take over at Ajax at the conclusion of that year, Graham Potter was in his final season with Ostersunds and ten Hag was in his final few weeks as FC Utrecht’s head coach.
The first major test of Graham Potter’s time at Chelsea will be on Saturday. Even though it is sarcastic to say that any game Chelsea plays is unnoticed, this is the one where his team will probably receive the most attention. An early benchmark for development after his arrival in September.
The most recent being on Wednesday night against Conte’s Spurs. Ten Hag has previously faced a number of high-profile matches while in the hot seat, winning three of them at Old Trafford. The victories over Liverpool and Arsenal have given United a fresh feeling of direction and vigour after a disappointing season last year that seemed to drain the team of all vitality, along with contempt for a team that wasn’t performing well and ire toward unpopular ownership.
However, ten Hag has provided a much-needed counterbalance to that pessimism by tactically demonstrating a cunning ability to reorganise a team that appeared unconfident in its abilities in the first two games against Brighton and Brentford. The first two games, in my opinion, were a culture shock for 10 Hag. Football writer Casey Evans, a supporter of Manchester United, tells football.london
“He paid the price for charging headfirst into the game and trying to play his brand of football. So, I believe he has modified and adjusted his style throughout the last two weeks. While we saw a more counter-attacking style of play against Liverpool and Arsenal, I believe the fans saw a more long-term vision of what ten Hag wants against Everton, Newcastle, and Tottenham “A team that can build out from the back, a flexible forward line, and a midfield that can perform under pressure. And I thought United gave one of their best performances in recent memory against Tottenham. It’s still unclear whether ten Hag will play with the “Ajax Brand” versus Chelsea or take a more practical approach.”
Since Sir Alex Ferguson left United in 2013, the club has undoubtedly been searching for a distinct identity. They went through four permanent managers before finding their new hope in the former Ajax manager. Chelsea supporters, like ten Hag, are hoping to see a similar duplication of the approach Potter so deftly used with Brighton at Chelsea, though as the draw with Brentford in the middle of last week revealed, it is still in its infancy.
When asked what the greatest danger Chelsea poses to United on Saturday night, Evans responds, “Graham Potter is the major one.”
“I was a huge supporter of his Brighton team, and naturally, they defeated United 2-1 this year. Chelsea will be a serious competitor in the following several years if they allow him the time and resources to create something similar at Stamford Bridge. However, since it’s still early at Chelsea, we’re not necessarily facing the most dangerous version of Potter’s club. Instead, we’re dealing with the uncertainty of a team that’s still getting used to things.
“Raheem Sterling has to be my favourite player, in terms of individuals. The winger finally breaking his curse to win over the Stamford Bridge faithful would be in the Premier League season’s script even though he hasn’t really shown up against United at Liverpool or Manchester City.”
Although ten Hag’s early performances are assisting United in putting last season’s wounds behind them, Cristiano Ronaldo’s cultural impact has lingered since the start of preseason, when rumours of a possible transfer to Chelsea were raised. Ronaldo’s absence from Saturday’s match against Chelsea was officially announced on Thursday night after it was claimed that the 37-year-old refused to be a replacement against Spurs and was later seen heading down the tunnel alone.
“Naturally, Ronaldo has been grabbing the headlines since leaving the Tottenham game in the last seconds. However, ten Hag chose not to get involved in it, saying instead, “I’ll deal with it tomorrow, tonight we focus on the win,” and prior to the game, he articulately explained why he had selected to start Rashford over Ronaldo “When asked about the difficulty in persuading players to accept ten Hag’s strategies, Evans provides an explanation.
“This, I believe, has been the aspect of Ten Hag that has most impressed me. He hasn’t addressed the matter as though persuading the players to play the way he wants to be played is a difficult chore that must be accomplished. As I previously stated, United’s performance against Tottenham was one of their best in recent memory, and every single player on the field, whether they began the game or entered as a substitute, appeared to have fully embraced ten Hag’s philosophy.”
By breaking the hoodoo over a United team that is making slightly more progress under a new voice than Chelsea, Potter will be seeking to surpass his three predecessors. Any coach would have enormous buy-in for the upcoming journey with three points on Saturday.
