Potter’s brave decisions paying off – Talk Chelsea

There was some notable decisions made by Graham Potter in Sunday’s win against Crystal Palace, and I saw him be quite bold.

One of the things that hasn’t been mentioned much is that yes, of course Lewis Hall has been keeping Marc Cucurella out of the team, which is a bold enough decision on it’s own, but Potter even chose to bring Kalidou Koulibaly on at left back during the game, rather than turn to Cucurella.

Potter and Cucurella knew each other very well from their time at Brighton, so dropping him and ignoring him as a sub even, is hugely brave from Potter. And these are the kind of decisions we have been asking for and needs to continue.

Nothing against Cucurella, but he has been pretty sub-par since arriving in the summer, so I think he’s deserved to be dropped. Even dropping Koulibaly from the start on Sunday, who has also been sub-par, was a bold decision, and one that paid off. Benoit Badiashile had a good debut.

The only surprising one is not giving a start to David Datro Fofana yet. But perhaps Potter feels he isn’t ready yet and this might point at him going on a loan move this month.

Trevoh Chalobah at right back over Cesar Azpilicueta again was a brave decision, especially as Chalobah was poor the game before. Really shows our desperation to get a new right back, but Chalobah was much better on Sunday, and it was another decision that paid off.

The other one was of course starting Conor Gallagher over Mateo Kovacic. Gallagher was one of our biggest threats on the day, and it was another one that paid off. These decisions wont always pay off, but to just be willing to make decisions like this is what’s needed.

It’s good signs, and we do need more of this now if we want to really push forward. Drop the players who are underperforming and play players on merit. We have seen a lot more of this from Potter in recent games and it’s good to see.

I see no reason to drop Badiashile for the next game, or even Hall for that matter (albeit he had a couple of dodgy moments).

Potter is doing what he needs to do. Let’s hope we can continue to move forward now after a vital three points. Keeping any strong hope under wraps though, personally, at least until we get more players in the positions most vital, and injured players back.