Graham Potter accepts Marc Cucurella has become a symbol of Chelsea’s struggles but says he is not a “bad player” and can cope with the pressure.
The 24-year-old joined the Blues in a £62million deal from Brighton over the summer, before seeing his manager follow suit after the sacking of Thomas Tuchel in September.
Like Jorginho under Maurizio Sarri and Mason Mount under Frank Lampard, the Spanish international left-back has become a target of criticism partly due to his association to his manager after being reunited in west London.
Potter joked that Cucurella’s hairstyle proves that he is not his father, amid a barrage of criticism for his player.
“He doesn’t look like my son does he?! You can’t use that one,” Potter jokingly said referring to old jibes about Mount and Lampard.
“I think with the results we are having and where we are in the table. Unfortunately, you expect somebody to be getting the brunt of the criticism. I think that’s the pattern.
“Whether it is fair or not, that doesn’t matter. The supporters are entitled to their opinion and voice because without them there is no football club.
"In an ideal world, you want everybody going in the same way, supporting everybody but that’s not the reality. That’s not where we are at.
“I think as professionals we have to accept that. We have to work as hard as we can to change opinions.
“That is what it is and the challenge for us. I am not going to argue against it. In an ideal world, you want everybody going in the same way, supporting everybody but that’s not the reality. That’s not where we are at.”
Cucurella faces an uneasy arrival back to Stamford Bridge tomorrow against Southampton, after facing boos when substituted off the pitch away at West Ham and again at Dortmund by his own travelling support.
Pressed on what it might take to diffuse the pressure and scrutiny on him, he added: “There is no magic formula. It is not straightforward or easy.
“It would be wrong for me to say it is easy for him, it is not easy to play with that type of pressure or situation. All he can do is keep playing well in training, keep working hard and wait for the right opportunity.
“Our challenge is that the team has to win games and perform better and get some points because that takes the pressure off. In a situation where the results are going as you’d like them to go then it is understandable, you are looking for someone to be critical of, someone to blame.
“That is normal, it is human nature. As a team, we’re not losing because of one individual. We’re not in the situation because of one person.
“We’re a team and a club and we need to stick together and move forward.”
While Brighton manager, Potter spent much of his summer wondering whether Cucurella would join Pep Guardiola at Man City before seeing Chelsea outbid them late on in the process.
He said that Guardiola’s judgement of his player deserves some weight: “If you do any research about Marc in Spain the character was fantastic.
“The team that was interested in him [Man City], I don’t think they’d be interested if he didn’t have the character he has.
“Chelsea weren’t the only team that wanted to buy him. The other team that wanted to buy him were quite good.
“The club invested a lot of money in him in the summer. I was at Brighton last year so I know his qualities. He was the final piece, I would say, in our puzzle. He helped the team to function really well.
“At Chelsea, with the amount of transition there is, is a really different situation. It won’t be the first time that in the first six months at a club that it doesn’t feel like it should. It can affect your performance.
“I think Marc is a big boy, he is an adult who has got kids. He knows the situation. We have to help him to change perspectives on this.”
