By the time Chelsea line up against Crystal Palace at the start of October, Graham Potter will have manager for more than three weeks - but only managed one game. Whether that is to be a blessing or not will have to wait. The new man in charge has been given valuable time to work closely with his players but hasn't had the games to decipher how things might work out on the pitch.
This makes the impending transfer window a strange period. Potter is still very much getting used to the Cobham surroundings but won't have the bulk of his players left over to work on specific tactical instructions but he will have some time to himself to make key decisions.
The only fit first team players not away with their nations are Kepa, Marcus Bettinelli, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Trevoh Chalobah, hardly enough to do much XI-a-side practice.
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There were sightings of youth players in training before the weekend though, with Chelsea putting their open matchday to good use with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brighton for players not involved against RB Salzburg, football.london understands.
This allows Potter the chance to gather some early thoughts on who might yet be added more consistently to his training. Along with getting some rest, here's what Potter will be doing whilst Chelsea's squad jet off around the world
Logistical decisions
More than tactical or physical preparation, Potter has a lot of spinning plates that he has walked into. As soon as he entered the doors at Cobham he took on complex transfer scenarios, unhappy players, contract negotiations - both ones that are likely and unlikely - and a team that has been extremely coordinated.
Along with catching up with Todd Boehly and analysing what his squad looks like, Potter finally has a moment or two here to lay-out his plans. He can prepare himself for what is about to come and make early judgements as to how his team might look in the near future.
It includes planning for the return of N'Golo Kante and swiftly giving input as to if his contract is worth renewing, the same can be said for Jorginho. There will be time to think about Carney Chukwuemeka and how much he is likely to be involved. It will also allow for a glance at how to structure Chelsea's training on a broad scale throughout the build-up to the winter World Cup.
Potter has a lot going on and he has a week here to free some of it up or clear out his mind, to an extent.
Prep for Palace
Without knowing who will come back in what state, Potter can be relatively sure that on October 1st he will be managing his first league game for Chelsea.
It will have come nearly one month since the Blues beat West Ham 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, their last win, and will need to see a much improved display on several levels from the Premier League form that has marred a poor start to the campaign.
Although things will change between now and the game, Potter can put in the ground work with research, recovery for players and organising training sessions. Potter's tactical changes against RB Salzburg were evident from the start and, although following a similar template, had distinct differences to Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea.
Given the lack of organisation in the squad during matches up until now, getting ahead of schedule for Potter may help relieve the burden of the coming frenetic weeks. This is all the more important when considering after the Palace match Chelsea have 37 days including two away European trips with heightened importance, too.
Take it all in
Potter is manager of Chelsea now. He's gone from signing Billy Gilmour for £9million to a club with an outlay of over £250million this summer. Potter has World Cup and Champions League winners in his squad, has managed in the elite European competition for the first time and is at the helm of one of the best academies in the world.
It's not to downplay the job at Brighton, but the scale is monumentally bigger at Chelsea.
In these circumstances it would be easy to be taken away in the enormity of the move, the suddenness and the expectations. With everything that has already happened in his brief time and the craziness of what is still to come, Potter would be wise to take a moment to himself to properly bed himself into the surroundings and appreciate where he is. When the players come back the world will flip upside down again and there's no promise it'll stop anytime soon after.
Touch base with Todd
Just as the new American owner has been heavily scrutinised in the past week, Potter has been under the microscope. The pair are now entwined in an owner-manager relationship of the sort that hasn't been seen at Stamford Bridge before and therefore it would be a good time to speak once more.
Potter will be aware, having been given some input into the new director of football appointment, that change is going to continue happening above him at Chelsea in the near future and now there's now football to worry about immediately, and given Boehly's ability to get great food and a wonderful meal, a catch up with his new manager would be timely to relive what has happened in the past week and to assess the scale of the challenge up ahead.
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