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Graham Potter plays down Chelsea’s profligacy in their victory over RB Salzburg.
After watching his team, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in particular, blow numerous opportunities against RB Salzburg, Graham Potter is unconcerned about Chelsea’s persistent wastefulness in front of the goal.
On Tuesday night in Austria, the West Londoners put on a strong performance. Goals from Mateo Kovacic and Kai Havertz sealed a 2-1 victory and guaranteed Chelsea’s spot in the round of 16.
Although Salzburg goalkeeper Philipp Kohn played brilliantly, Aubameyang, who had six efforts on goal, wasted several golden opportunities, which might have put Chelsea out of reach in the first half.
While the Blues’ performance was largely very encouraging, it had some of the hallmarks of the profligate displays that were such a regular occurrence under Thomas Tuchel – where they struggled to finish off the chances they created, and which Aubameyang was supposed to help solve.
However, Potter believes there is no residual effect from the presidency of his predecessor and is convinced Chelsea can immediately recover their shooting form.
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When asked if he was worried about Chelsea’s waste, especially given that it was an issue before he arrived, Potter responded saying:
‘I can’t comment on anything before I was here. All I can say is it’s good that we create chances and perform well. Then you back the quality of the players that the more they get there, the more chances we create, then the quality will come through. So it’s not so much of a concern.’
Asked how satisfied he was with the performance, Potter continued: ‘Very. It’s not easy to win here as you can see from the record they have and the quality of the team. We had to play well and I thought we did. We created some good chances in the first half and were unlucky not to go more than 1-0 up.
‘Then one action, with the quality at this level, and it’s 1-1. I thought out response was really good then so I am delighted to go through, delighted with the performance of the players: I thought they were fantastic tonight. To go through with a game to spare is brilliant considering where we started the competition.
‘It’s not easy to create chances against this team because defensively they are so intense and aggressive. I thought we did create some good chances from good play.
‘We’ve had a lot of games and a little bit of disruption in terms of some key players missing, but credit to the boys they’ve responded really well.
‘They’ve picked up points in the Premier League and to go through like we have in the Champions League is a fantastic effort from everybody. We will take steps, it will not be a straight road, unfortunately. But we will take steps and tonight was one I think.’