Graham Potter sent Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola message amid Chelsea penalty controversy
Chelsea manager Graham Potter has been advised to adopt a more assertive and confident approach in post-match interviews, similar to those of Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, and Jurgen Klopp.
Despite earning a draw in their latest Premier League match against West Ham, a disputed penalty call went against the team late in the game.
With the score tied just before the 90th minute, Conor Gallagher’s shot was blocked by Tomas Soucek’s arm, but neither VAR nor the on-pitch referee, Craig Pawson, believed that a penalty should be awarded.
In the first half, Joao Felix gave Chelsea the lead by finishing off an Enzo Fernandez cross, but Emerson Palmieri equalized for West Ham against his former club.
Additionally, two Chelsea goals were disallowed in the first half, and Soucek also saw his potential late winner ruled out for offside.
Following a thrilling first half, both teams failed to record a shot on target in the second half, leading to a draw between the two London teams.
The penalty situation was the main topic of discussion after the match, and Potter also provided his opinion on whether he thought a penalty should have been given or not.
He said: “Looks it [obvious], but these are the little things that you need to go in your favour and at the moment they’re not.
“That’s life, nothing to complain about there, it’s just we have to keep working. There were positives in how we wanted to play today, and some good attacking moments with players who are adapting to the Premier League. That’s where we’re at, so we just have to keep moving forward.”
Potter’s approach of accepting the controversial decision without making a fuss was criticized by both Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand.
They pointed out that other successful managers, such as Mourinho, Guardiola, and Klopp, would have used the penalty decision to shift the focus away from their team and relieve any pressure.
Ferdinand told BT Sport: “You look at a Jurgen Klopp or a Pep Guardiola or [Jose] Mourinho in years gone by at Chelsea, Mourinho would have been at it in that presser today and it would have been the story of tomorrow.
“The back page would have been ‘Mourinho slams VAR,’ and it takes the gloss off what happened on the pitch. There were some bits you could improve on with Chelsea, that would not have been the focus but probably will be now with the money spent, the influx of players, etcetera. You can negate that by controlling the narrative from that presser there.”
Cole concurred with Ferdinand’s evaluation of how Potter should have approached the question about the penalty, stating that it would have changed the way people viewed the outcome of the game.
“I’m not surprised because he’s always diplomatic, he’s going a fantastic job, but I think if he had someone in his staff who’s maybe been at that level, managed at that level, you need to cause a bit of an uproar because it does two things,” the former Chelsea midfielder said.
“It takes the deflection from the bad elements of your performance, and it also puts it on VAR. It cost Chelsea a chance to win the game there, through no fault of their own. You can dissect the performance of the team Monday morning, go through it and build on that, but if I was advising him now I’d say ‘look, come out and make a thing of it.’
“Let these Chelsea fans leave the stadium feeling hard done by instead of thinking ‘why didn’t we beat West Ham? We’ve signed all these players.’ It changes the narrative of the story.”
Graham Potter sent Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola message amid Chelsea penalty controversy
