Graham Potter says his first two months of being at Chelsea have felt like being in a ‘washing machine’ and is looking forward to the World Cup to regroup.
The Blues will embark on a mid-season warm-weather training camp during the tournament in Abu Dhabi.
That’s after all players not selected for the tournament in Qatar will get a break and Potter admits even he needs one.
“I’m a human being as well,” Potter said at Cobham Training Centre. “I’ve come from Brighton where everything was pretty much organised over three years and had similar pain that you go through.
“I ended up here pretty quickly and you are into the washing machine in terms of the games and the turnaround. You have to deal with all that which is going on and the number of matches you play.
“You do need time to reflect and there is because of the World Cup break. It would be stupid of me not to do that, to rejuvenate, to recover, to reflect, to improve.”
He added: “I’ve had no time to think about who the strongest teams are at the World Cup. I’ll be rooting for England, obviously, and fingers crossed for them.”
Meanwhile, the Blues are ready to spend money again in the January transfer window despite spending a world record £273million over the summer.
They are making a host of new hires and Potter admits he is open to doing business after discussing it with the owners.
“Yes. I’m pretty sure we will [have dialogue],” he added. “We have regular dialogue so that’s part of an ongoing process.
“Sometimes you need to reflect, to think, to analyse and if you have the space to do it, it’s better. But we need to think about what’s happened and what we need to do to improve.”
It’s not to say that he will push for new signings: “Not necessarily. I think there is more to come from the team we have, more to come from the group we have.
“We’ve got some key players out: Kante, Chilwell, James, Fofana. These are key players and a couple of them are replacing key players that left in the summer.
“So the point for me is that we can do better than we have. From a performance perspective, I think the team can function better and that is where my focus is on.”
Chelsea have lost three of their last four games ahead of their trip to face Newcastle at St James’s Park.
However, they are boosted by the return of Jorginho to ease their injury list.
“Jorgi trained today and providing there is no reaction, he should be in the squad. Nothing else to report in terms of players returning.”
