Potter refuses to blame Chelsea players for poor attitude following Man City defeat

Graham Potter has stood by his Chelsea squad after defending accusations of any poor attitudes within the dressing room.

The 47-year-old witnessed a dismal defeat against Manchester City on Sunday evening as they crashed out of the FA Cup following a 4-0 third round defeat.

Chelsea were dreadful. Second best all game and were punished by Pep Guardiola’s side who rarely broke a sweat and were even sloppy in parts at the Etihad Stadium.

Potter’s side now have won just one of their last seven games in all competitions and pressure is increasing on the side as their hopes of a trophy this season all but disappear despite being in the Champions League. Chelsea’s European hopes are fading too having slipped to 10th in the Premier League.

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Injuries have affected the squad which has seen Potter’s options be restricted. He has had to turn to several youngsters including Omari Hutchinson and Bashir Humphreys, both of whom were given minutes alongside Lewis Hall against Man City on Sunday.

The senior players should be the ones helping the Chelsea head coach through the bad patch, but their performances aren’t meeting the standard. Both Jorginho and Hakim Ziyech were booed off by the travelling support at the Etihad.

Potter insists he was happy with the senior players against Man City and refused to call them out for showing poor attitude.

Telling reporters post-match, as quoted by Adam Newson, he said: “Yes (I was happy with the senior players). This opponent is probably the worst you can play when things aren’t going well because they can make it look like you’re not running or trying because their positional structure is brilliant, they use the full width of the pitch, they keep the ball and make it difficult for you to put pressure on them. In the end, it’s easy to do that but I am working with the players and am not getting any sense of people with a poor attitude.

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“Everyone wants to try to do better. I think there is support in the dressing room, it’s just we’re going through a bad moment and sometimes when you have these moments you need somebody to blame, something to blame, and I understand where that question comes from. But at the same time, we have to stick together and keep working.”