Potter has game respite to give his Chelsea players a gee-up for second half of the campaign

BY PAUL LAGAN
paul@slpmedia.co.uk

Chelsea manager Graham Potter will be relishing the time he has to get to grips with the talents of his new players, oversee the injury recovery process of some absent players and get onto the training ground and start implementing his style of play.

The Blues do not play again until next Friday, when they face west London rivals Fulham at Stamford Bridge. This rare interlude from playing is because they were unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup, 4-0 by Manchester City.

Had things gone their way at the Etihad Stadium, Chelsea could have looked forward to a bumper afternoon gate at the Bridge this weekend against Arsenal.

Last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Anfield in the Premier League, which in previous seasons would have been seen as a great point against a top class opposition, turned out in fact to be a useless point.

The reality is that both clubs are languishing in mid-table, unable to ratchet up the performances needed to take all three points and move up the league. And it’s these seven days of grace which will enable Potter to do the work necessary to give his charges a gee up.

That’s not to say there will not be any more additions to the already cramped car park at Cobham.

Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, 21, is still in Todd Boehly’s sights as well as a final attempt to break Benfica’s resistance and take Enzo Fernandez.

Caicedo’s value has risen from the £5million paid by the Seagulls to Independiente in 2021, to £80m. The Blues have already had a £65m bid rejected.

If Boehly lands these two, it will be an eye-watering £600m that he has forked out in transfer payments.

Much has been made of the fees stretching out over the length of long contracts, but that is not the Blues’ fault.

Now seen as a loophole, when in fact it was a case of no club having the financial clout or confidence to guarantee such astronomical fees, the long-length of contracts are to be curtailed, but not for this transfer window, which ends next week.

While Potter potters about on the training field trying to remember the names of the new players and probably a bit surprised that others are still there, Emma Hayes’ Chelsea Women are getting ready to take on Liverpool – again.

Perhaps again is a bit strong as ‘Icegate’, as it’s now known, will rear its ugly head.

Chelsea and Liverpool played just six minutes of their WSL match at Kingsmeadow on Sunday.

Punters were still buying tickets for the game, with ticket staff unaware that referee Neil Hair had called it off due to a frozen surface.

The blame of the farce was put firmly at the door of Hair by the WSL.

A degree of sympathy is needed as while both managers claimed to have said they told him not to play the game due to player safety concerns, he must have been aware of the fact the game was due to be live on the BBC.

The FA had also loaned the club a pitch covering with some heaters – to no avail.

Club skipper Madga Eriksson is demanding an inquiry.

She said: “As players we try to be ready and mentally prepare for the game as normal. But it was quite obvious as soon as the whistle blew that it was impossible to play the game. It should have been dealt with in a better way and hopefully people will look into this process and something like this will never happen again.

“Absolutely there should be an inquiry. It’s not been handled in the right way. When you do something wrong, or make a mistake, you always have to look back and see what you could have done better.”