Graham Potter has claimed Erik Ten Hag has made his Manchester United a more direct team since beating them with his Brighton in the opening match of the season.
The Seagulls gave the Dutchman a humbling introduction by winning 2-1 at Old Trafford on August 7. Brighton also thrashed Ralf Rangnick’s side 4-0 at the Amex Stadium in May.
Potter moved to Chelsea last month and is unbeaten in his first seven games. But Ten Hag has also improved his team and the Old Trafford club gave their best performance of the season in beating Tottenham on Wednesday night. On Saturday Chelsea, in fourth place, host Manchester United who have climbed up to fifth and are also in Champions League contention.
“A lot has changed since the start of the season,” said Potter. “I have huge respect for Ten Hag, the job he’s done in his career, and his quality as a coach. You can see people adapt and adjust as they go into the competition faze. So they have done well. Obviously, it wasn’t a great start from their perspective but they’ve battled back, got points and played well. It’s going to be a tough game.
“They’ve changed a little in how they build-up, they are a little bit more direct. At the same time, they have the same quality. The have the threats of [Marcus] Rashford, Anthony, [Jadon] Sancho and Bruno Fernandes plays a key role for them. So there are a lot of similarities but they seem to have adapted to the competition, adapted to each other, learned more about each other. It’s a normal process really.
"I’d been at Brighton for three years when we played them and Erik had been at Manchester United six weeks if that, so there is a lot of learning you need to do and a process that you need to go through. That’s normal. He has the quality and naturally, they will get better and better as time goes on.”
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Potter racked up his first win over Manchester United back in October 1996 when he came off the bench for the final 20 minutes in a famous 6-3 win for Southampton.
“Well, I changed the game! It was turning toward Manchester United but then I came on and it flipped toward us. We scored three goals, that’s what happened! Thankfully, we didn’t lose the game when I came on. That was the biggest worry for me!
"It was one of those days that you get at The Dell. You speak to Gary [Neville] and you’ll know they didn’t really like The Dell that much. The previous season wasn’t great for them with the shirt change. So it was one of those games; Matt Le Tissier was on fire and Eyal Berkovic scored a really good goal. It was just one of those fantastic team performances.
"I think Roy Keane got sent off as well, apologies for mentioning that to Roy…it wasn’t like him! Of course, that contributed. It was a great day for us and not a good one for them.”
Potter also has admitted he can find no words of consolation for Reece James and N’Golo Konte after both Chelsea stars were ruled out of the World Cup with injury.
The England full-back has a knee injury while the Frenchman has undergone surgery on his hamstring injury. “You have to acknowledge they are human beings and want to be involved in that competition,” he said. “The reality is I’ve not got anything to say that can make it any better for them. It’s worth acknowledging that. It’s one of those things where you’ve got to focus on the things you can control.”
