Danny Mills believes there will be ‘one or two questions being asked’ among the Chelsea squad of Graham Potter’s recent changes to the Blues’ starting XI.
Chelsea have only suffered one defeat since Potter’s arrival from Brighton in September but a woeful 4-1 defeat back at the AMEX Stadium last Saturday highlighted some concerns.
Against Brighton, Potter started Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic as wing-backs despite Ben Chilwell and Cesar Azpilicueta among the subs with former Arsenal star Ian Wright describing the decision as ‘very confusing.’
Potter has also not hesitated to make early changes to his side, hauling off players and changing his system in games against Aston Villa and Manchester United – with the introduction of Mateo Kovacic in the latter helping his side wrestle back some control of the game.
It follows a trend, with Potter rarely naming an unchanged line-up at Brighton but former England international Mills has warned such decisions can elicit a very different reaction from those in the Chelsea dressing room.
‘I think some of it has been forced with the players unavailable at Chelsea due to injury. I also think there’s a touch of over-tweaking at times,’ Mills told Metro.co.uk on behalf of OLBG.
‘He’s gone from Brighton where he was the master, he decided everything from probably what they had for lunch to what transfer they brought in.
‘It was all his decisions, the players respected that, and I don’t think there would have been much pushback from the players at Brighton. Now what you have is a squad of senior internationals who have won trophies and won more than Graham Potter in the game.
‘They’re more experienced in terms of football, obviously not management but what they’ve been through in their careers.
‘There will be one or two questions asked and at the moment I think Potter is trying to work everybody out and going too far in terms of trying to keep people happy.
‘I don’t think he wants to burn any bridges right now by out casting anyone and having a preferred XI or his strongest team. I don’t think he wants to do that when he’s only 10 or so games into his tenure.’
With the absence of Reece James and Wesley Fofana being felt, Mills believes the changes are a combination of key players being ruled out and ‘not wanting to upset one or two players, especially senior ones’.
Chelsea have four more fixtures before the World Cup break with Mills suggesting Potter will have a much better idea of what his best side is heading into the New Year.
‘I don’t think anybody expected that result [against Brighton], but he needs to be careful and get these last few games out of the way without any issues.
‘Then he can come back after the World Cup and some of those decisions might be taken out of his hands, but he might be able to bring in one or two and get rid of those he doesn’t fancy.
‘He will have had six weeks to think about where he needs to be, and I think we’ll see a different Chelsea come the end of December and January.’
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