BRIGHTON, England — If Graham Potter was in any doubt about what awaited him on his return to Brighton on Saturday, it dissipated as the players emerged for kick-off when the home fans adapted Beatles classic “Hey Jude” to “Hey Judas.”
This was a chastening and hugely embarrassing afternoon for the 47-year-old coach, who left Brighton abruptly last month after a hugely successful three-year spell to replace Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge. Saturday’s 4-1 defeat was his first as Blues boss and simultaneously the first win for his successor on the south coast, Roberto De Zerbi, at the sixth attempt.
Brighton were magnificent, palpably enthused by the prospect of making a point to Potter that the step up he had taken did not elevate him to an untouchable perch. And this was not just about Potter. Marc Cucurella, the defender who handed in a summer transfer request to join Manchester City before Chelsea paid a higher transfer fee (£62 million) to land their man, had his first touch booed. Worse followed when he delayed taking an early throw-in.
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In total, seven coaches, staff and players have traded Brighton for Chelsea to date, a flow of talent which clearly angered the home fans.
“I didn’t have any expectations,” said Potter. “I have nothing to say sorry for, I have nothing to apologise for. I did a good job. You can see the team is a good team. I took over when they were fourth from bottom in the Premier League, probably third-worst team.
“There’s a lot of money been raised through player sales and there’s a lot of good players on the pitch. I hope for their sake, the next manager does as good a job and that’s brilliant for them.”
What should alarm Potter more is that this was a defeat largely of his own making. Chelsea’s 3-4-2-1 system looked more like 3-2-4-1 given the advanced deployment of Christian Pulisic and Raheem Sterling as wing-backs, a tactic which worked in Tuesday’s Champions League win at FC Salzburg but faltered badly here.
