https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/
potter-i-dont-change-team-for-changes-sake
Potter: I don't change team for change's sake
22 Oct 2022
It is pretty clear from the early weeks of Graham Potter's reign that our
head coach is continuing the flexible approach to tactics and formations
that characterised much of his time at Brighton.
https://i.imgur.com/9wKIb3Q.jpg
Our head coach is yet to name an unchanged Blues side for any game and in
addition to the shirt numbers put down on the team sheet, the shape of the
side often shifts too.
While everyone is waiting to see what the ploy will be for today's big
Premier League match against Manchester United, Potter has been explaining
some of this thinking on the way he asks his players to interact and
engage the opposition on the pitch.
'The most important thing is you have the support of the players,' he
stresses initially, 'and then everybody has to be true to themselves and
play to what they think is their strengths and weaknesses.
https://i.imgur.com/TXTqqfT.jpg
Graham Potter talks things through with Armando Broja
'I have not got to this point by playing 4-3-3 every week so it will be
strange if I did that once I arrive here, but at the same time, something
consistent has to happen all the time in terms of what it looks like.
Consistency of selection is difficult, the schedule makes it pretty much
impossible, but how the game looks or how we want to play should look the
same regardless of personnel or the system, that is the challenge.'
Potter has explained that part of his philosophy is not to see formation
as the end goal.
'How the team is playing, the team needs to look consistent regardless of
the formation, and then it is about the personnel - how you want to attack
the opponent, how you want to defend against them, and then other things
will be considered, but hopefully there are things that look the same even
though there are shape changes.'
On whether with all things being equal, Potter would have one preferred
formation, he recalls towards the end of his time at Brighton he was
relatively consistent with playing a 3-diamond-3, but he emphasises that
was because it suited the players so well.
'You have to get to know the players and over time, you have a clearer
picture of what suits the majority,' he adds, 'but sometimes a few of the
majority might not be available and then the decision you have to make is
do I put these guys that don't really fit into this system into it, or do
I give them a chance to perform to their attributes, which might mean a
tactical switch.
'My career has meant I have had to use resources as well as I can. We
didn't have the power to just go 4-3-3 all the time.'
In conclusion, Potter does believe the talent he is working with at
Chelsea lends itself to his flexible approach.
'They are top players so their game insight is at a really high level, and
some of them have been playing the game a long time. Thiago Silva for
example can play in the middle of a three or in a back four. He is the
captain of Brazil – he can play football!
https://i.imgur.com/vvUBcJU.jpg
Thiago Silva kisses the badge with pride
'You just have to make sure everyone is on board and everyone understands
and again we don't change for change's sake, it is not part of my identity
that I want to deliver here. What we have got to do is try to win football
matches.'