Graham Potter has been under enormous pressure from the media and Chelsea fans after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League to Brighton & Hove Albion and Arsenal.
The back-to-back defeat has seen Chelsea drop five points below the top-four zone behind Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Brighton. Chelsea has also struggled to score goals recently and have found the net twice in their last four Premier League games.
Potter has been criticized for favoring the English player as the likes of Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been inconsistent but have enjoyed more playing time under Graham Potter.
Townsend has urged Graham Potter to emulate Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp and be more ruthless.
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What did Townsend say?
Townsend said on the Drive on TalkSport: “When I look at Antonio Conte, when I look at Thomas Tuchel, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola they are frantic, they are kicking every ball and contesting every decision.
“They are ruthless in what they’re trying to do and trying to achieve.
“I don’t think Graham can continue to come out and say they’ve been beaten by the better team and will learn from it… you cannot keep doing that at Chelsea. You can do that at Brighton.
“That has got to go, that trying to keep everyone together and keep everybody happy. I think at some point, to be a successful manager at the top of this league, he’s going to have to develop that more of a ruthless element to what Chelsea are trying to do.
“At the moment I’m looking at them and they’re a little bit easy to play against.”
He added: “All coaches need 2-3 windows… he’s dealing with good players, very good players, top players and he’s got his own philosophy to implement and you’ve got to win matches while trying to implement them.
“I look at the way those other teams handle their clubs and I think Graham is still stuck in Brighton mode.
“That’s what he does but he’s going to have to find something else to spark the very best out of the best players, to get more out of those guys.
“Because at the moment what I’ve seen recently from Chelsea at the top of the field is nowhere near it, nowhere near it at all.”
Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand has claimed Arsenal won against the Chelsea B team.
Rio Ferdinand said on Vibe with Five: “You lot were very impressive, I can’t take that away from [Arsenal].
“You lot are serious. A serious team now. But look at the opposition you were playing, it wasn’t even their first team!
“Still impressed, but it was not their first team. Kepa [Arrizabalaga] is the No.1 goalkeeper now.
“[Reece] James, [Ben] Chilwell, [Kalidou] Koulibaly, [Wesley] Fofana, [N’Golo] Kante, that’s six players who all [usually] start.
“It was their second team, their B team. Six starters didn’t start!”
