Graham Potter didn't have much choice after the match against Arsenal. He was never going to come out and throw his players under the bus. This is a team he has known for two months and a squad of players he needs to impress.
Part of the risk of taking on a manager without elite level experience is that Chelsea is a new environment on the best of days, on the worst it's a hostile animal that can eat you up and consume you relentlessly. These are new challenges for the manager.
This job would have been tough enough in pre-season, such is the size of the changes needed over a period, and Potter was given less than 48 hours notice before swapping jobs. There's nothing normal about this.
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This isn't the same Chelsea that walks over teams and the fact that the Blues haven't beaten Arsenal at home since 2017 - their last truly dominant side, albeit for one season - only depicts that further. If you judge Chelsea off what they used to be then disappointment is the only feeling coming.
For Potter this isn't even a question, and as much as it is tough to lose and praise the opposition, especially a team so long in the shadow of Stamford Bridge, it's necessary. To criticise every off aspect of Chelsea would take a lot longer than most are willing to listen to.
After the match the 47-year-old compared the sides and largely praised Mikel Arteta's men eight times. His first response highlighted the chasm. "I think you could see the difference between the two teams in terms of confidence, in terms of points they’ve got, in terms of their structure and work together," he started.
"We’re not in a fantastic moment as we speak and in the end, as much as it’s not nice to say, I think Arsenal deserved to win the game and were the better team overall. We have to take that and use it as motivation to improve.”
When asked if his side are missing purely confidence - certainly one element that has drained over the past three weeks, Potter added: “I don’t think it’s one thing. Clearly confidence is higher [for Arsenal]. They’ve got the points, got off to a really good start and have been working together for three years or so. They have an understanding of each other. We’re at the start of our process and have had a few problems with injuries to key players that they’ve managed to steer clear of. So lots of things, it’s not one simple solution unfortunately.”
Understandably he didn't want to come out and admit that it's always going to be tough with Cesar Azpilicueta playing against Gabriel Martinelli and an isolated Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pitted with William Saliba. Potter couldn't really start by saying his team simply aren't good enough currently. Arsenal, too, deserve their praise, and it's a stage that Potter wants to get to.
When told that Chelsea players looked like they didn't know what to do he was blunt in shutting it down, but moved quickly to admit that the away side ran the game. “I think that’s fair but you have to say that Arsenal are ahead of us in terms of how they have been working together.
"They have more points, they have got a good confidence and structure. As I said in my first answer, you have to say that’s fair. Our players…we had an idea of what we wanted to do but we couldn’t execute it and the opponent was good.
"Again, there are two teams on the pitch and I think Arsenal defend well, press well, and make it difficult for you to create chances. That’s what the top teams do and Arsenal are a top team at the moment. I don’t like to say that but it’s probably the reality. When that is the case, we need to do better in terms of how we create chances because otherwise you’re zooming in on individuals and it’s a team issue.”
Chelsea have become accustomed to being the dominant force on the field.. This time they were in the strangle hold, fighting to stay alive. To their credit they did do that, but the lack of threat, true desire to be ambitious with play and fundamental ideas missing made it even harder to stomach.
For Chelsea fans this is less of a 'how have we lost to Arsenal' because Potter answered those questions, they're just better on the pitch due to growing patience and planning off it. The real question is 'how did we get to this stage.'
Before the match the former Brighton boss was asked about closing the gap on Manchester City, a response which can currently be used with Arsenal too. His response was revealing. As much as having injured players back and working for longer with his group of players, Potter candidly spoke, saying: "I would say it's lots of things in terms of aligning resources in a better way. How you recruit, how you develop the football idea, we need time in that regard with the changes that we've been through.
"So probably a little bit of stability, a little bit of clever recruitment to add and help the group we have, and then continuing to work on the football idea. Those I would say are the two main areas."
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