Potter on Sterling and Pulisic roles, Kepa’s replacement vs Brighton

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has opened up on Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic in the wide roles they played in their recent game vs Brighton.

Potter said Sterling and Pulisic’s role in the match that ended in an embarrassing defeat was not to defend.

‘The responsibility for those two was not to defend against their wing-backs,’ he explained, ‘but I understand whenever you do something and it does not work, you look a bit of fool. That is how it is, I have to accept and deal with that and do better and learn.

‘You need to find a way to win, you need to find a way to perform, we have had a lot of games in October and we’ve lost some key players in James, Koulibaly, Fofana and Kante. So it’s a constant challenge in terms of how to set up. It can be tactical, it can be that the intensity of the opponent who did what they did better. l have to analyse the game and look at how we can improve.’

The match against Brighton also saw Potter make a second help change at the Blues goal post, with Kepa coming off and Edouard Mendy going in.

‘He felt the bottom of his foot,’ reported Potter who said it is too early to know the full extent of the problem.

It is unknown if Mendy would be the one to man the goalpost in the Blues’ Champions League game on Wednesday.