WHEN it comes to Graham Potter, you can’t question his coaching ability.
He turned Brighton from a relegation-threatened club with an expectation of just staying up probably into a top-ten team.
You can already see clearly at Chelsea under Potter their style of play.
Their identity. So, there aren’t any doubts over whether he is good enough as a coach.
I think, instead, we will be questioning further down the line, with the bigger names and superstars, whether he can manage the egos and keep everybody happy.
When a young manager comes into a dressing room, the key is always whether he is relatable.
Crucially, Potter’s timeframe of football knowledge is still relevant right now.
I always found younger coaches easier to talk to and understand as their language and terminology would be similar to how you speak.
It can be something as small as what music they listen to in the dressing room, the places they go out to eat, having kids a similar age to your own.
As opposed to an older manager who doesn’t always interact with that lifestyle.
I have had older managers who drink wine, for example. Not many young lads drink wine.
Something as simple as that can make it harder to connect.
Normally in a dressing room, players make a decision on whether they like a manager in between two and four weeks.
You see what the style of play is, what training is like and how he reacts if you win or lose. Is he consistent in his messaging?
But as a whole, good players respect good coaches and vice versa, and that has been evident in Potter’s first couple of games.
Now comes a big test of that against Manchester United.
