Ex-Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot calls for his old club to SACK Graham Potter

Former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot has urged Blues chairman Todd Boehly to sack Graham Potter, insisting the manager “wouldn’t have lasted” during his time at the club.

Additional pressure piled on Potter after Chelsea’s miserable 2-0 defeat by Tottenham last weekend, with several fans expressing their frustration at the current state of the team, which sits 10th in the Premier League and 14 points below the top four.

Despite spending more than £600m across two transfer windows this season, Chelsea have only won nine of 26 games under Potter, who has so far been backed by Boehly and the Blues board.

Chelsea’s crucial Champions League second leg against Borussia Dortmund next week could well be decisive for Potter, but for now the head coach is preparing his troops for the home clash against Leeds, threatened by the descent on Saturday.

Melchiot believes the former Brighton boss has been extremely lucky to avoid sacking so far, stating that Potter would already be out of the club if he were manager in the early 2000s.

Former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot has urged his former club to sack head coach Graham Potter.

The former Brighton boss is under immense pressure at Chelsea having lost 10 of his last 17 games.

“In my time, Graham Potter wouldn’t last, that’s all I can say,” said Melchiot, who represented Chelsea from 1999-2004. ESPN.

‘When I was playing, no. I feel sorry for him, I know everyone talks about him, but with results like this… I have to repent and make a change.’

Struggling to score goals since the Premier League restart, Chelsea have suffered 10 defeats in their last 17 games, all but losing any hope of turning around their poor start to the campaign and qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

Winning this year’s decorated European competition would be Potter’s only chance of qualifying at the end of the season, but his team suffered a 1-0 defeat against Dortmund in the round of 16 first leg earlier this month and reversed. defeat seems an unlikely prospect. .

Melchiot (R) celebrating with Chelsea’s Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (C) and Joe Cole (L) in 2004

Chelsea have a history of success stemming from their impatience with managers in the past, benefiting from former owner Roman Abramovich’s lack of tolerance.

The club’s latest Champions League success came directly after removing Frank Lampard from the hot seat: former boss Thomas Tuchel took the reins and went on to win the 2020-21 competition.

Similarly, almost a decade earlier, Andre Villas-Boas was sacked after less than a year in charge of the club, handing over responsibility to caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo, who lifted the Champions League trophy in 2012.

Melchiot made 130 appearances for the club during his five-year spell at Stamford Bridge, before going on to play for Birmingham, Rennes, Wigan and Qatar’s Umm Salal.