Marc Cucurella has urged Chelsea’s owners and fans to give manager Graham Potter more time, promising that ‘the results will arrive’.
Potter joined Chelsea from Brighton back in September to replace Thomas Tuchel, about a month after Cucurella made the same move for £62million – a Premier League record for a full-back.
There was much hype around the English manager and things got off to a very promising start as the Blues enjoyed a nine game unbeaten run, conceding just four goals in the process.
Performances weren’t all that impressive however, and just before the World Cup break they suffered three straight league losses including a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Brighton upon Potter and Cucurella’s return to the Amex.
Chelsea are currently eighth in the table, eight points off the top four and some have questioned whether Potter was the right man for the job.
Cucurella is confident that he is and believes that his side will be a lot stronger post-Qatar, though he acknowledges that it will take time before the club is fighting at the very top again, telling SunSport: ‘This is maybe another season.
‘It is really good for us, the last games before the break we didn’t play too good or get results but this is a new season. We have to stay together, play good football and win games.
‘It is difficult because it is a new coach with different ideas and it is difficult to change without the time to train. We have a lot of players to come with a new manager, not a lot of training time because we play a lot of games.
‘This part of the season we have time, we meet more and know the ideas of the coach. This second part of the season, I am excited for.
‘These weeks gave us time for training to prepare for the second half of the season. It is good training together because you understand the players and your team-mates’ movements.
‘We need to know his ideas and then play together — these weeks have been very good for us.’
24-year-old Cucurella’s start to life at Stamford Bridge has been a struggle but he knows that with time things will improve just as Potter’s Brighton took time to evolve.
In Potter’s first two seasons with the Seagulls, they finished 15th and 16th before rising to ninth last season and prior to his departure they were still flying high, something that new manager Roberto De Zerbi has maintained with the club currently seventh and level on points with Chelsea.
‘I was really happy at Brighton with him and now he has come here and I think it is good for me and the rest of the team,’ Spaniard Cucurella added.
‘He is a good coach because his idea of football is attacking. We have big players to do his ideas.
‘All of it is a process. The first season with Graham in Brighton the results were not good, they stayed down in the table.
‘They continued with the same ideas, working, working and working. Then, last season and this season they played really good with the same ideas.
‘We need to work and understand his ideas and the results will arrive.’
Chelsea’s first game post-World Cup is at home to Bournemouth on December 27th.
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