FA Cup: Graham Potter and his Chelsea team need a magic wand

Although Mount was in the starting lineup, it had been uncertain whether or not he would play a few days earlier. It is tough to conceive that he would have started if there had been more possibilities.

Money is not the cause of this disparity in resources. Chelsea has access to some rather significant funds. This is merely the unfortunate nature of the sport—a few bumps, a few kicks, a few unintentional falls—assuming they aren't coaching their athletes to this (lack of) condition.

That is all it takes to begin viewing Denis Zakaria in a somewhat different way than you previously did.

Are Potter's ailments and the owners' apparent faith in him enough to maintain him in his position? It's true that under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea gained a reputation for having an itchy trigger finger.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Graham Potter so far at Chelsea:<br><br>25 matches 👕<br>13 wins ✅<br>5 draws 🤝<br>7 losses ❌<br><br>Two domestic cup competitions exited 🚫🚫 <a href="https://t.co/EG0WrVB3mE">pic.twitter.com/EG0WrVB3mE</a></p>&mdash; CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsGolazo/status/1612158527727931393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

However, Abramovich is long gone, and Thomas Tuchel was given the position instead, even though, at the time of his departure just over a month into the season, it appeared that the new owners had picked up this particular tic from the previous ones.

It should be clear that managers only need to discuss confidence in the first place if someone doesn't have it. We are all familiar with the dreaded "vote of confidence" from a board of directors, and this wasn't that. This hypothesis has to become circular, which is the problem.

There is your "vote of confidence," even though the owners could respond with a statement. The talk will grow more fevered if you don't speak. The only way to escape the vicious cycle is to fire them or wait for the form to advance to where everything dies once more.

And ultimately, there comes the point at which you have to ask how much of this is him needing time, how much might be him not being up to it, and whether enough patience might even be possible at one of the famously most impatient clubs in a highly impatient game.

It's starting to feel as though the level of tolerance Potter may might not be the level of tolerance that Chelsea's owners can maintain for much longer

Even though there wasn't much anyone could have done about Riyad Mahrez's free-kick in the 24th minute (apart from not giving away free kicks in those situations in the first place), Kai Havertz's decision to knock the ball away from Aymeric Laporte's head on the half-hour wasn't ideal.

It resulted in a penalty for Manchester City, which Julian Alvarez duly converted in his first game following his World Cup final goal.

Phil Foden added a third goal eight minutes later as Chelsea melted around them. The booing was already audible from the visiting fans at the sound of the halftime whistle.

Chelsea got better in the second period. They didn't, however, get any worse. Well, Manchester City let up a bit on the accelerator. Or a combination of all the things mentioned above occurred. At halftime, Potter introduced Zakaria and David Datro Fofana. Just after the hour, Omari Hutchinson and Cesar Azpilicueta followed them.

The last time Chelsea was ousted from the FA Cup third round was in 1998 when Old Trafford defeated them 5-3 at home to start a flimsy defence of the trophy they'd won the year before.

The last time they won the FA Cup was in 1970, their first-ever victory. Since then, they have won it eight times, and the amount of expectation that has grown ultimately governs the club today.