Paul Merson admits he’s surprised to see Chelsea hiring Graham Potter as their manager to replace Thomas Tuchel, as someone like former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane would have been a better fit.
The Blues sacked Thomas Tuchel yesterday, and it now looks like Potter will be leaving his role at Brighton to take over at Stamford Bridge, as per Fabrizio Romano wrote this morning in his CaughtOffside column, which also features further insight into where it went wrong for Tuchel under new owner Todd Boehly.
Responding to the news, former Arsenal star Merson questioned the decision to go for a project manager like Potter, as opposed to someone like Zidane, who would not require a major rebuild and would look to deliver success straight away.
The French tactician did great work in his time at Madrid, winning the Champions League three times, working with some of the biggest names and egos in world football, similar to the expensively-acquired signings at Stamford Bridge.
Writing in his column for Sky Sports, Merson said: “I like Potter. I think he is a good manager. Apart from Manchester City, the best team I saw at Stamford Bridge last season was Brighton. They were unbelievable. Potter makes teams better. He improves players.
“But is that the job at Chelsea? I think he could have got the Manchester United job. There are more youngsters at Manchester United and it needs a bit of rebuilding. What needs rebuilding at Chelsea? Every player is a £50m player.
“These are internationals with a million caps between them. You just have to look after them. You don’t have to teach them the game. It is horses for courses.
“Potter would find players and make them better. He is a project manager. Give him five years and he will rip it up. That is not Chelsea’s philosophy. Chelsea’s philosophy is to go out and buy the best players. I just do not see it at Chelsea. He could be out of a job in a year.
“The way Chelsea are, the way it is run, how long are you going to be in the job for? They won the Champions League last year. They lost two cup finals on penalties this year.”
He added: “For me, the only one who ticks the box is Zinedine Zidane. He is a legend. Nobody is questioning him. He was one of the best players in the world and he has managed Real Madrid. He has managed top-drawer players.
“He is not a manager who wants to be around for five years and build a project, he just wants it now. He is not going to build a team. He wants a team that is full of superstars already. People will listen to him.
“You cannot give it to Graham Potter for five years and tell him to build something. It is not that job. It is a Zinedine Zidane job. He would settle for two years. If he has not won anything by then he would be the first to say he is moving on.”
Paul merson should just ignore all this he is saying we don’t need zinedine zidane, I really love the way Brighton is playing. When I heard Thomas tuchel has been sacked I was so happy cos he has really lost it, he has been experimenting with our darling club since last season, imagine a coach without a first eleven. And for Mr graham potter is a man I love so much, I luv ur style infact he was the man on my mind immediately I heard tuchel is gone. Thank u Mr boehly n co.
Sincerely speaking, I believe zinedine zidane should have been appointed straight away cus he’s very experienced on d job n a world class player too, d players will definitely listen to him n respect him as well unlike the rookie coach graham potter about to b hired for a high profile team like Chelsea, no doubting d fact day he’s gud coach with a luvly playing tactics n styles by that is with a lowly team. In d past three years he has done credibly well in Brighton but I doudt it if he replicate that in Chelsea cos of calibre of players in d team n d standard of Chelsea football club. I’ll b very surprised if he still retains his job in a year’s time
tuchel deserved that playing football without natural number nine and to make it worse he has wasted hazard to be (pulisic)we are happy as blues families
I said it countless times last season that it’s time we need to move on from the fact tuchel won us the champions, the man is clueless in his approach, no first 11 players, no approach with other team formation only if one of his back 3 got injured or not available that’s when he’ll deem it fit to rotate formation sometimes, the transfer window was the worst of it, we had the Raphinha transfer agreed and you Connor make a direct call on time to table the project you’re to to build to the player, likewise de-ligt, he sold so many of the attackers buy defenders as replacement, all the attackers were complaining but focused on the defensive side of it that’s still not working.. the man was just clueless great decision to ditched him
Just reading through here on so many comments that Zidane should have been appointed, that’s makes me laugh 😃 to all those suggesting Zidane, the points is that I am not very sure and agree that he Zidane deserved the rating placed on him by European football media. Did he deserved some honour for his achievement in champions league with Real Madrid, yes he does deserved a huge kudos, however I totally disagree that Zidane is that so good as a manager, a manager who is always constantly in fears 😨 of failures and cannot take chances, he do not deserve all the high ratings he is getting. Everyone should know that Zidane walked away from a Real Madrid disorientated team few years ago out of fears not to fell and get sack. Any top manager who is not ready to face failures and glorious times is not worthy of the top place in football. The team Zidane walk away from is the same team which Carlo Ancciloti used to win the champions league recently. Anccilotti rebuild the team and under 2 season and won champions league with same team, so therefore Chelsea have made the good move by bringing in Potter as Chelsea new Manager.
I would rather hire a young coach from a lower profile team than a coach praised by the media for the graftry he used to win the ucl three times. A coach with bragging rights in the media would disorganise our dressing room and honestly, zidanes’ coaching experience is still too low eventhough he is a legend.
If a player can replace ended hazard then we need a player just like him pity we let him go to the liga so they kick him trip him up and try if they can to stop him just because someone who is better alround than themselves is bad on their players who try to play against his brilliant ways
Merson has been on the booze again