Graham Potter is lucky to have a scaled down version of pre-season to acclimatise to his new surroundings at Chelsea. The manager will have waited over three weeks by the time his team face Crystal Palace in his first league match in charge and it will be nearly one month after his first match that he watches Chelsea play AC Milan in their next Champions League match.
The drawn out start to life is a blessing in disguise as he gets to take some more time to make important decisions and to prepare fully for the period ahead. In the 42 days between Chelsea's next match and the last one before the winter World Cup in Qatar the Blues will play 13 games, one every 3.2 days.
Compare that to the similarly gruelling schedule last winter that was made even tougher due to the re-emergence of Covid-19 effecting matches, Thomas Tuchel managed nine games between October 1st and November 12th. In the most packed period there were 15 matches in 49 days, also coming to 3.2 days between games.
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This demonstrates how quickly Potter will have to adapt to life in London. His schedule will be busy and if Chelsea can't get on a roll then it may fair as being hardest spell he ever manages at the club, such is the ferocity of fixtures and the pressure on his side.
During this time there is plenty to do including bedding in young stars he might want to look at, as well as working on new relationships and taking a breather to catch up with the speed of the last 12 days.
It's a time that former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin thinks he can make the most of, but has cited the importance of hitting the ground running in key areas of the pitch in order to see an improvement in results. Writing for the club website, Nevin said, "Among the most important things will be to see what kind of alchemy the manager can come up with and which players will link best with the others.
"Certainly there has been a good link-up between Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Reece James in recent times, but the understanding between Reece and Mason Mount has arguably been even better than that when they have been together.
"Getting players to ‘click’ together is one of the first things a holistic coach is looking for. You can see just how effective it can be in the Premier league when two players think as one. Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, or Son Heung-min and Harry Kane are just the most obvious examples but there are plenty of others out there."
For Potter, getting James and Mount to gel will be an integral part of progressing. They have been two of Chelsea's best performers for two and a half years and can be the foundation for future success. James has arguably been the best player already this season but Mount has struggled.
Their relationship is not only important for the structure of the team but also for the attacking in-put. Both players are key figures in the forward line despite their deeper roles. If the two Cobham graduates can flourish under Potter in the next run of matches then Chelsea will have a good chance of pushing on, maybe not to the heights of De Bruyne and Haaland, but it will help to change the struggling atmosphere at the club.
Haaland alone has two more goals than Chelsea do as a club this season whilst De Bruyne has six assists. Chelsea have only scored nine goals this campaign and have been taught a lesson in starting slowly with Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City all hitting higher gears before the first international break.
It is now Potter's task to quickly resurrect the Blues form and transmit it into better performances and results in a season defining period of matches. By the time it is over and the World Cup has started, Potter will likely feel like he needs the break to come once more.
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