Chelsea boss Graham Potter warned two players are lacking confidence

Chelsea fans react to Thomas Tuchel sacking

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New Chelsea boss Graham Potter has been warned that two of his players are lacking in confidence following the Blues’ 1-1 draw with RB Salzburg in the Champions League on Wednesday. Raheem Sterling opened the scoring on the English coach’s first game in charge, but they were unable to claim all three points at Stamford Bridge as Noah Okafor equalised in the second half.

Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were singled out by former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch at the full-time whistle. “Some positives,” Crouch told BT Sport. “Champions League though, Salzburg at home you would have been expected to win this game.

“They had chances to do that, I think there is a little bit of a lack of confidence at the moment in certain players, certainly Ziyech who come on then you could see his shoulders were down, he didn’t look like a player full of confidence. Aubameyang as well the last few games, I think there’s a few players suffering with a little bit of a lack of confidence so that’s something he [Potter] really needs to address.”

Former Blues winger Joe Cole was on punditry duty with Crouch and offered his assessment on Potter’s first game in charge. “There were signs of a shape already,” Cole said. “With how he wants to play, [there was a] better attitude, not better concentration, better in the defending but ultimately for Chelsea, Graham Potter will understand that you have to win these games in the Champions League.

“I thought he was brave and bold with his substitutions, at the end of the game fans will respond to that. [Christian] Pulisic, Ziyech, [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek, [Armando] Broja, all the attacking players were on and they couldn’t get the win. Positive glimpses I would say, but there’s a lot of work for that man [Potter]. He has shown he was going to be bold in the Chelsea dugout.”

Towards the end of the game Potter had just three defenders on the pitch in Thiago Silva, Reece James and Marc Cucurella while the rest of the team pushed for a winning goal. Sterling was also in a changed role wide on the left while Cucurella sat deeper in a left centre-back position behind him, similarly to how Leandro Trossard operated for Potter at Brighton.

Potter admitted he was “disappointed” with the result on his first game in charge of the Blues. “We are disappointed with the result,” Potter told BT Sport. “The boys gave everything. Attacked quite well, missed a bit in the final bit in the first half. Scored a good goal. Overall, disappointed, it wasn’t quite to be today.

“It’s always irritating when you concede. Overall, the defensive performance was quite good. The little details we have to improve.

“First game, it’s not been easy for the boys, they’ve responded well to us over the last few days. It’s not the result we wanted, it’s a point we have to take it. We will get better.”

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